HOME SWEET HOME

It’s getting to be that time of the year when there is a nip in the air. That is the first indication that autumn is approaching, followed closely by winter. I am not the only one who knows that fall is coming; I noticed that geese have also gotten the word. We bought a house with a huge Canadian geese population nearby, and I have started to see the V formation of geese flying south for the winter.

The other day as I was driving, I stopped at a red light. I looked over at a large empty parking lot and saw several big puddles of water standing from the recent week-long rains that we received. One large puddle had about 10-15 geese standing around it, grabbing a quick drink of water. Then, about 50 feet away, another large puddle had one solitary goose drinking from it.

Geese are extremely social creatures, and you almost always see large groups of them together. Even when they fly south, they stay together in their formation for the most part. I looked back at the other puddle, and I noticed that there was still much room left for more geese, so why did this one goose drink from another puddle? Was he not liked, was he being ostracized, or did he decide that he wanted to do something differently from the rest of the group?

As I pulled out from the red light, I was still thinking about the goose and why he was different. Then, I remembered watching The Chosen and how a school of fish was all swimming along, and one of them turned and went in the opposite direction. It chooses to go against the flow and be different. That is the whole tagline of The Chosen; Get Used To Different.

I mentioned this to my sister, and she had a wonderful perspective on this, so I will share her thoughts with you.

This world is not our actual home; we’re just visitors going through this land. Think about a United States Ambassador who is living in an embassy in a foreign country. They live there, work there, and shop and deal with other people and other cultures. But, at their heart, they are not citizens of that country; they’re citizens of the US.

Philippians 3:20

²⁰ But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,

Romans 12:2

² Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

As we look at what’s happening in the world around us and we get distressed, or conversely, we get successful, we start to think we’ve got it all figured out. That is when we need to take a check and remind ourselves this is not our home. We are not citizens of this earth, this country, this group, etc. We are citizens of Heaven, so we need to remember that our calling is to know Jesus, love Jesus, and make Him known. Our mission may be to minister to the people in our workplace, at school, at church, or our own families, but we will be heading back home when the mission is over. So, remember, this is temporary. Just like living in a foreign place, you can enjoy all the wonderful food and people, but your heart will always belong to your home.

Hebrews 13:14 (The New Living Translation)

¹⁴ For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come.

Sometimes as Christians, we have to go against the flow. We can find ourselves alone at times, but that is fine. The Lord is always with us, so we will never be truly alone. As I am sure that you’ve heard many times, “If everyone is jumping off a bridge, would you?” In our Christian walk, we need to remember that we don’t want to do what the crowd is doing; we have another call.

To GOD Goes The Glory!

Have A Blessed Day!