The Welcome Home

There is a great little book written by Max Lucado, called “The Applause of Heaven” I want to acknowledge Pastor Max because much of what I want to share with you comes from his book, though I have taken it and put my own slant to it.



I have been a way for a time, on a trip. There have been different airplanes and airlines, airports and hotel beds. There has been a lot of time sitting in meetings, stand in Conference rooms speaking and teaching. But now I am almost home. After four different nights in four different beds and one airplane seat over night, I am almost home. After drinking my umpteenth diet Pepsi® or bottle of water, and having eaten a few restaurant meals, I am almost home. After bags of salty nuts and grumpy airline personnel, line ups for tickets, boarding passes and to check luggage, I am almost home… and in the end that is what matters to me.


Home. It was the first though each morning when I rose up and it was the last thought when I crawled into bed each night. It was my first thought when I stepped down from the pulpit; it was my first thought when I said good bye to my hosts and I boarded the ferry to take me to the airport. There are lots of things that I recognize that are special about home. For example, tea never tastes better than it does out of your own kettle and your own mug. There is nothing like the meals shared around your own table. There is nothing like a hug for one of your own family. I am never in as much of a rush to leave as I am to come home. If I can, I like to be one of the first off the plane and first to get his bag – though this rarely happens. There is a drama that plays out around you as you wait, squealing kids excited to see a long lost relative, couples reunited after time apart, and students heading back to school for the fall semester. “Rejoice and be glad for great is your reward in heaven.” And what is our reward? To finally be home.


And such a thought is important in this world, because when I awoke this morning, there was a mother on trail for her life, having been accused of murdering her daughter. This morning, there are people who are waking up to realize that their husband or wife is still away on mission in Afghanistan. There is a widow who is going to have to go and bury her young, brave Constable husband after an accident that cost him his life in the performance of a simple traffic stop. When you look at this worn down, heart sick, gotten old world, does it make you wish you were home?

Scripture reminds us to live in hope because there is going to be a day when we will be face to face with the living God and that God himself is going to wipe away the last of the tears. There will be no more tears or mourning, there will be no more graves or death. We will not know the separation and the silence of the grave; we not be removed from each other and good bye will never be spoken again. We are given in Christ, a new and living hope that will not only help us live but will bring us together and build us into a new and living temple for God.


In this life we come to know God – we must live and remain in God to live that hope forever. In this place we recall to mind the grace love and mercy of a God who would rather die himself than live in eternal bliss without us.


You’ll be home soon too. Each breath is a moment of grace. Each day is a gift of another mile walked. Each mile that is walked is part of the journey that draws us closer to God and to being home. Your arrival is awaited and anticipated. Your will walk down the flyway and into the arms of those who wait for everything to be made new. There will be faces happy and glad to see you. And from the back of the crowd there will be hands uncovered from the folds of robes; these nail scared hands will applaud Those same hands will be extended to embrace you and welcome you home.