Coming Home

My family was divided in two the past week. If you do the math, that would be six divided by two, and I was here at home with only two kids for the first time ever. My husband took off across the country with two kids to Georgia. I had time to clean out a few cabinets, volunteer at VBS, have friends over to swim in the lake, and even take a trip to Urban Jump and IHOP on a date with my two kids. The traveling three left Atlanta in the middle of the night when my husband could no longer sleep and headed home. They pulled into the driveway this morning after twelve hours on the road allowing only restroom and coffee stops. I could tell they were here because our lab, Belle, stood up from her usual napping position in the carport, and headed down the rock road to meet them. I abruptly ended a phone conversation with a friend and something happened that I never expected. I started crying! I did not stop until I hugged all three of them and got them, along with the first load of junk in the house. If I am honest though, I really did not miss them that much. I know really too that they had not missed us either. We all had our own things going on. Why the tears then? It was just an overwhelming feeling that I had my family back home and really more of an overwhelming feeling of love. (I hope that doesn’t sound too cheesy.) I often find myself working so hard to take care of them and keep us all one step ahead of the next day, the next meal, the next activity, that I forget how much I really love them. It hit me like a ton of bricks! I witnessed another episode of love yesterday that was similar to my emotional meeting with my crew in a way. A precious young man at VBS asked Jesus into his heart. When my pastor visited with him about what was in his heart and on his mind, it was so evident to me that Jesus Christ himself had another child who was coming home to Him through salvation. It was priceless! To hear him say that he was a sinner and wanted Jesus in his heart reminded me that salvation is so simple and so free. It is love. I had to explain to him that my tears were happy tears so I did not freak him out! I thought of the passage in Matthew 18: 12-14 that says “What do you think? If any man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go search for the one that straying? If it turns out that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety nine which have not gone astray. So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish. “ I believe with all of my heart that these words spoken by Jesus are true and if you are lost, He is looking for you. You are never too lost, messed up, or too far gone for Him to bring you home to Him, so stop running the wrong way, and turn to Jesus.