Well, friends, it is with great joy I tell you that it is now less than a month before we come visit all of you in Georgia.

I say “great joy”, but at the same time, this transition is so bittersweet. We’ve done it before, last Christmas, but it feels so weird knowing that you’re moving back to the states, only to come back just a month later. After visiting last year, I think it’s safe to say that I have become a master at living out of a suitcase. Last December we mainly stayed with my Aunt MeLinda and my Uncle Nicky, and on the weekends or some weekdays I would go stay with my Gram. I also spent a few days at some of my friend’s houses, like Mandy and Siera and others. I stayed with one of my cousins for a few days (Lauren, the literal best), and I can’t wait to spend time with her again.  But spending time with all of these people means packing several suitcases and making almost two hour drives to see everyone we’ve missed so dearly. I won’t say we’re homeless, but we definitely don’t have a permanent address for a complete month.

This begs the question: what is home?

This has been on my mind almost the whole year. When we moved back, right before school started, Mackenzie and Laura (two amazing family mentors) decided for us to have girls night before chaos began. So me, Sidney, and a few others got all dressed up for a photo-shoot that Mac wanted to do for us. Later that night at Mac’s house, we changed into some comfy clothes, painted our nails, and decided to tell our testimonies. Looking back, I now know why Mac told us to bring tissues and makeup remover. We went from laughing and joking to crying about how faithful God is and encouraging we can all be towards one another. One of the girls in our group said that she had been struggling with what home was to her, since we had been moving so much, and that God said to her in that very moment: “You’re not home yet.”

That statement has popped in my head every time someone mentions visiting the states or if a friend in Georgia asks if I can stay with them for a while. I think on this and I’m reminded of verses in God’s word that tell us this world is not our home.

Hebrews 13:14 (NIV) says: “For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is yet to come.”

1 Peter 2:11 (MSG) also says: “Friends, this world is not your home, so don’t make yourselves cozy in it.”

And if I really wanted to, I could throw in my favorite verse, Romans 12:2: “Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but instead be transformed by the renewal of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

Recently, we just read The Odyssey in our humanities class here at school. The Odyssey is an epic poem written by Homer, an ancient Greek poet. The epic poem is based on Odysseus, the King of an island who has been fighting in the Trojan war, and his journey home to his wife and son. His journey home takes him ten years, and it’s not just a simple chariot ride back. Instead, he endures many ship wrecks and is forced to stay on other islands with some gods and goddesses. Never once does he give up going home, even though he is forced to stay on different islands for three plus years. Once again, after reading this poem, the question “what is home? what is the significance of home?” arose.

I thought for a while after our teacher asked us the question, and I was silent long enough for her to look at me and asked me the question directly. I took a deep breath, compiled all my thoughts on the question, and answered. “Home,” I started, “Is not home until you make a dwelling inside of a house. A home and a house are two different things. When you build a house, it is not a home until memories are made inside of it. It’s not a home until you find it as your safe place. It isn’t a home until you are surrounded in your house by the ones who are welcome and the ones you love.”

Sure, we may be practically homeless whenever we visit the states, but aren’t we already homeless wherever we stay? Like the Father says, this world is not our home. Our home is with Him, in the eternal city of heaven. Where we will feel the most safe, and be surrounded by the ones we love. This world is almost like a waiting room, or holding place. This world is temporary – the Father’s is eternal.