My definition of home.


Happy New Year!!!!!! It's 2018.  The year I graduate college. WHATTTT?!?!

During winter break, I have really reflected on what defines home in my life.  Is it a physical place, is it the people I'm with, or is it something else?  Looking back at 2017, I don't even think I was at my parent's house for 20 given nights between being at college, visiting relatives in Michigan, and living in Ocean City, MD for ten week with Cru this past summer.  So can my parent's house be defined as my home?

In 2017, I felt the sense of home when...

  • Watching Hallmark movies with my parents and sisters in our living room of my permanent residence in West Virginia
  • Cooking with my grandma in her country house in the corn fields of Michigan
  • Traveling across the earthly waters to serve others with love
  • Walking around campus knowing I am getting a degree to teach students
  • Line dancing with my friends on a late Wednesday night in a small Ohio town
  • Living in a house full of laughter with 34 college students across the nation in OCMD for ten weeks
  • Catching up with old friends who graduated, then they decide to sleep on the extra mattress in my apartment
  • Eating around the table during the holidays with extended family across the state of Michigan
  • Worshipping God with 1500 people in the city of Baltimore 
These are just a few of the many reasons to be thankful in 2017.  But does this help me to define home? Is there even a common theme throughout? Well, I think so.

The common theme in each of these scenarios is Jesus.  My home is Jesus, and he is where I am because he lives within me.  I look forward to 2018 to see where I am led by the Holy Spirit.

On Wednesday, I leave for another international adventure, and I know my home will be with me there too.

What defines your home?

With love,
Al


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