No Place Like Home

            In his fine trilogy The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien weaves an intricate story of four members of a tiny race of “people” called hobbits who live in an obscure place known as the Shire. They are content in an idyllic setting: happy in ignorance of the larger world in which they live and enjoying many bounties of life. The books follow their story after they are “uprooted” from the Shire for an adventure… a quest… which seems so uncharacteristic of them and unfitting for them. Along the way they meet creatures they never dreamed of and peoples (friend and foe) that are beyond their imagination. They experience great dangers and new wonders. They see sights that take their breath away and visit cities and realms of great glory.

            In the final book – The Return of the King – two of them (the other two are separated and following another plot line) are in a huge battle as the story nears its climax. The battle goes on for days until, finally, help comes (to the “good guys”) and the evil forces are defeated. But in the midst of the battle, one of these hobbits is very badly injured. As his body is taken into the city’s “houses of healing” almost all hope is lost for him, until the king comes. The king has the ability work healing and this hobbit – named Merry – is restored. Here follows a brief part of the conversation, then, with his dear friend Pippin. Pippin is relieved and overjoyed that Merry will be okay, and he is feeling “small” and insignificant in a world that seems so big, when he says…

            “Dear me! We Tooks and Brandybucks, we can’t live long on the heights.”

            “No,” said Merry. “I can’t. Not yet at any rate. But at least, Pippin, we can now see them, and honor them. It is best to love first what you are fitted to love. I suppose you must start somewhere and have some roots, and the soil of the Shire is deep. Still there are things deeper and higher; and not a gaffer could tend his garden in what he calls peace but for them, whether he knows about them or not. I am glad I know about them, a little.”

            I have always liked those words, because they capture how I’ve felt in some ways. Though I wasn’t sheltered growing up in Maine, Maine has always felt like “the Shire” to me – a place I have always loved and come back to. But God has blessed me with many great “adventures” far from home where I’ve been able to see some pretty glorious things and meet so many amazing people. One of those adventures in 1977 was a 10-day trip to the Dominican Republic to play baseball (as a college student with Sports Ambassadors) and be a short term missionary. It was my first time away from my country. My eyes were opened to many things. My world got very large. My understanding of God’s world and God’s plan in the world grew.

            Now, 35 years later, Tanis and Esther Derolus – two Haitians living and ministering in the Dominican Republic: two dear friends of First Baptist Church – have come and worshipped with us during a trip of several weeks to the United States. No doubt their understanding of the world is growing as well – even though they have access to the world through technology and all that modernity offers.

            We are world Christians. Sometimes, like hobbits, we may not want to be bothered by the “outside” world. The “outside” world (whether near or far) feels dangerous, uncomfortable, unsettling, and restless to connect with and be a part of. But God has many amazing and wonderful people all around this world serving Him. It is a great joy and privilege to come to know them and interact with them, because through them the presence of Jesus is being fleshed out and His name is being made much of, as it should be.

            I’m so grateful to God for all the places He has taken me: the things I’ve seen and done and the people I have met and known. But I am also glad to always be able to come home to my roots in the soil of Maine and to “my” people. I’m sure Tanis and Esther will be very happy to be back on their “soil” in the DR as well. You know, all of us who know the Lord are ultimately all “away” from home. Our true home awaits us… where Jesus is preparing a place for us. Those we loved who were in the Lord are there already. This reminds me of Mercy Me’s song Finally Home. Here’s a YouTube link if you’d like to listen to it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnTu0i9cj-I

John 14:2-3 (NIV) ²  In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. ³  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

John 14:23 (NIV) ²³  Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

Philippians 3:20-21 (NIV) ²⁰  But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹  who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

PRAYER:  Father, thank you that my true home is with you, and that my right and ability to look forward to it comes through Your Son who loved me and purchased my salvation. At his invitation heaven has become my destination and the joys of eternity await. Thank you for your Spirit, whose presence makes me your home and who makes eternity a present reality and not just a future hope. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.”

Jesus Christ is Lord!

Scott