As a part of the community of former missionaries, I would like to give them a shout-out today to the tune of “This World is Not My Home.”
One of the comments that most made my cringe would I would return for furlough and fund-raising was “Welcome home.” I understand and appreciate the sentiment behind it, but I was not “home.” Home had taken on a quite different meaning in the context of a different culture and language.
Don’t get me wrong; there are many people and places that make me feel at home—a part of the family and comfortable to grab a glass out of the cabinet, snooze on the couch, or wash my own dishes.
In the kingdom, God has granted us with the blessing of family and community that transcends borders, cultures, and languages.
But when you have lived a lot of places and been a part of people’s lives in multiple locations, you tend to long for heaven, where all of those people you know and love will be together for eternity.
Every time I meet someone that has spent time in full-time ministry or that has lived in another country, we have an instant connection. I recently heard a quote from a missionary who had returned to Chile after several years in the U.S. She was asked if she was glad to be back in Chile or if she missed her life in the U.S. after having spent a number of years back on U.S. soil.
“I’m definitely glad to be back in Chile. In the U.S., people expect me to be American and I’m not really American after having lived overseas as a missionary. Here in Chile, they don’t expect me to be Chilean, so I can just be myself.”
Truly, this world is not our home.
What home are you longing for today?