Home
Where are you from? Have you ever moved to a different house or a different city? That is a question we often ask others when we first meet someone, and we often receive this question while we live here in Ethiopia. We clearly are not from Addis Ababa so it is an obvious question. But when you attend an international church it is a question that has answers that are varied and interesting. When you have moved to a new place, the concept of “home” changes. Home is where you live, right? Living overseas allows us to call a foreign place “home” while still not fully feeling “at home”. I began wondering: Is home a feeling or a place? As a Christian, where is my home?
We just arrived back in our Addis home after a summer of vacation and visiting family and friends in the US. Going back to a place you once called home is both exciting and sad at the same time. You are excited to see family and friends. And to eat Memphis BBQ nachos, Gibson's Donuts and Chik-Fil-A. The first few days, you see things differently like how quiet the streets are, or ALL the green grass, and traffic on Poplar Avenue is not really traffic at all compared to the roundabout we have to encounter everyday when we leave our house to go anywhere. It is nice to have a lane, even the one with the light poles. When we drive in Addis, the roundabouts have about 7 rows of cars- notice I did not say lanes since there are no lanes here in Addis. There are about 7-10 rows of cars filing into 2 rows to enter the roundabout. When you go around to find a pothole or two or three and avoid the other cars to shoot out the other side. It almost feels like it could be bumper cars or a demolition derby. Everyone drives so close to the other cars. After this daily roundabout, the actual lanes on Poplar Avenue don't feel so small anymore. Driving is much more relaxing in the US. Seeing things differently is sad and enjoyable. The sad part stems from realizing the things and people and events that you are missing.
Moving overseas has given me a new understanding of what it means to be what scripture calls an alien or a stranger. Although everyone here in Addis has greeted us and treated us like family. The hospitality of Ethiopians is way beyond Southern hospitality. And the international community welcomed as well. We do feel very loved here. As Christ followers our home is heaven with Jesus
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. John 14:3
For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. … 2 Corinthians 5:1
We do not want to be too comfortable in this earthly home. We should be longing for our eternal home in heaven. By moving to a foreign country, it brings that feeling to life. All of the sudden we don’t exactly belong back in Memphis where we used to live nor do we fully belong to this beautiful and different city of Addis. This feeling of not having a full time home allows you to gain a more tangible experience of not holding on to this earth and clinging to what is above. Wherever we are either Memphis or Addis we are missing people we love. One of my wise boys told me that this past summer was easier for him since he saw Memphis as a vacation rather than going home. The first summer we went back to Memphis, and it wasn't our home anymore. So having the mindset that we are on vacation made it easier to adjust.
I have noticed that when I get comfortable here on earth, I stop longing for heaven and miss seeing this world for what it really is. It is temporary. It is not our home. I don’t belong here. Moving has forced me to feel uncomfortable in many ways, Not knowing how to even buy things at the grocery or how to ask for directions. Being uncomfortable forces me to seek comfort in Jesus. He is our comfort. HE is our refuge. Jesus is our home wherever we are. When Jesus is my home then I can share with others what Jesus is like and who is. The definition of the word home is the place where one lives permanently especially as a member of a family or household. From merriam-Webster -a familiar or usual setting : congenial environment- pleasant . Being at home, in a place that is pleasant is where we are in Christ where we are finally at peace. Whether I am in Addis or Memphis, I am in Christ and at home.