“Wherever you go Jesus is already there, and wherever Jesus is you are already home,” a friend and mentor told me before Melinda and I left to come to Georgia. And maybe she was right, maybe wherever Jesus is I am already home, and maybe Jesus is everywhere, it is something he claimed to his disciples after all. You know the place he makes the claim, there at the end of Matthew after Easter telling the disciples before he leaves for good that he will be with them until the end of time… or the end of the ages, or something similar depending on the translation you prefer.
I was not sure I believed her though, my friend and mentor that is, when she told me that. It is not that I did not believe her with my mind, that part of me that tells me things are a certain way and I should believe them. I believed it that way, which is to say I said that I believed it, and maybe even convinced myself that I believed it, but did not necessarily live like I believed such an incredible statement, “Wherever you go Jesus is already there, and wherever Jesus is you are already home.” There is a difference between claiming to “believe” something, and living like that belief is foundational, true, absolute, and thereby and finally freeing. And the thing is while she told me this and I said I believed it I did not live like I believed it, which is to say her words did not comfort me the way they could have, because I did not discover the freedom in them. It is easy to say “I believe,” it is completely different to believe.
However nearly two years later in this little thing I like to call an experiment of faith, I have grown to believe her words and in believing them I have been freed by them. Like any belief though it was something I had to grow into, something I had to discover for myself, something that blossomed within me, and we all know that flowers take time to blossom. I discovered her words to be true when just recently Melinda and Langston were both sick and not in church on one Sunday and two people came over with food later in the day (vegetarian for Melinda of course). In the hearts of those people Jesus burned bright and I knew with them and because of them I was at a place called home. I discovered her words to be true when our first Christmas here after we had only been in town for 3 weeks and still had no furniture in our house, we had invitations to Christmas Eve with one family, and Christmas day with another. At both places we were able to be ourselves, which is to say like no “normal” minister and chaplain, and felt loved with a love that came from Christ burning in the hearts of those around us. With them and because of them I was at a place called home. I discover her words to be true when people come into my study and share with me how their lives are changing because they feel God in their lives. I discover her words to be true when people invite me into their lives, not because I am anyone very special, but because in me they have discovered Jesus or so I am told. If that is true then thanks be to God! To hear such things allows me to know that with me others have found a place called home, much as I have found a place called home with them. That is a blessing I can live into, that is a freedom I now enjoy.
As I write this I am in California. Yesterday Melinda and I took Langston to a chapel service at the seminary we attended. We saw old friends who were surprised to see us but as always delighted to see us as well. The chaplain of the seminary came up to me and hugged me. I told him I was sorry for showing up unannounced, and he told me, “Never be sorry for coming home.” He was right, Jesus was there, and wherever Jesus is I am already home. Jesus is within me and so many others I meet, so yes it is true I am home wherever I am. What blessed assurance is such a truth. Later in the day I had coffee with my friend who told me these words, and I thanked her that finally they bless me as they do. With her I was at a place called home. I hope and pray that I may continue to become a person who others might find a place called home when they are around… I hope you who read this may become such a person for someone who is looking for a home, who is looking for Jesus, who is looking for you.
Riding the wave of the Holy Spirit,
Garrett
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