Home is where the heart is, that’s what they’ve always told me. Im finding out though that whoever “they” is possibly needs to get out more. This place we call home may have more to it than I originally thought.
Instead of having a new years resolution I decided to have an end years resolution. My birthday falls a week before Christmas and as it happens New Years is shortly after that so I decided to hit up three different places to celebrate these three different events. I had no idea these three places would teach me so much about what I now call home.
Wollongong Au, this place is great! I was very blessed to share the first event with a most incredible Godly family who we shall call the Gillespie’s. Tho owner of the home was a mans best friend named Moriarti. (similar to the nemesis of Sherlock Holmes but with twice the number of legs and a life of better looks). When I first met this great champ I was without doubt invited into his family with no questions asked. This, now looking back, was very important to making his home a home.
Wherever your treasure is there your heart will be also. (Matt 6:21) I think Moriarti Got this concept and ran with it. “I felt right at home” as soon as I arrived. If home is where your heart is and if your heart is where your treasure is and if you treasure those around you, home becomes anywhere you have those you treasure most around you.
For Christmas I found myself in a small village in Papua New Guinea. It was a different kind of home for sure. They treated me like a king! It was their pleasure to constantly look for ways to serve me. In the morning all I needed to do was walk out my door to suggest I was awake and morning tea was on its way. I was told to go first at any meal and after had warm water brought to me to wash my hands.
The original King didnt come to be served but to serve (Matt 20:28). This village knew this concept through and through. Water needed to be heated over a fire, fish was smoked instead of froze, houses had big windows instead of AC and the laundry had never seen the inside of Mr Whirlpool or GE. I have never seen a happier village and Ive been to plenty. I learned that home becomes a place not where my heart is but where the servants heart is.I understand I was a visitor and hospitality is expected but let me assure you this was taken to a new level. If everyone is out to serve everyone else how can it not feel like home?
New Years Eve, how exciting! I was in another village by the sea surrounded by a sea of unfamiliar faces. My adopted PNG parents of whom were born in or near this village showed me around. I new only two people of the hundreds around me yet internally felt more at ease than I had for possibly months. These two Godly heros were the ones who walked through one of my biggest maturing seasons up to date only a few months past.
Home is safe and life giving, not life draining (John 10:10). Here we sat, drinking cold fresh coolow from a cousin and chatting with ceaseless relatives passing by. I don’t care what treasure you have or who’s doing what with who, if its not life giving you can keep it! It was obvious, these people I call mom and dad couldnt help but shed life and light where ever we went. That night mom gave the final New Years Eve speech to the village. I was a little proud when she came and sat beside me after, it felt good to be part of it all I guess. Home needs to be kept alive from deep within, not stoked from an outside source. Mom and dad showed me just how good the heart feels when it really it as home.
Make your home more than where your heart is, treasure the hearts you have in it with you also!
Rock On
P.S. Ian, Robyn, Alex and Mariann,
Thank you and thank you for introducing me to Moriarti and for the many unforgettable pleasures you so richly offered, I miss you all.
David Snader 