The Way Home

 I once heard some words spoken by the Rev. Billy Graham to a young woman whose life was in total devastation, at least in part by her own wrong choices. I don't know all of what Dr. Graham said to her, but I do know of this part of it. He told her, "Sometimes we have to take the long way home."

The long way home is a journey many have undertaken. I had to. I remember a time in the mid 70's as a student living a directionless, drug saturated life, filled with shallow relationships, I walked past a small building where the campus "Jesus Freaks" regularly gathered. My heart was empty and I knew it. As I was walking by, I noticed an open door and one of the "freaks" standing in the doorway. With eyes shining with life, they joyfully encouraged me to come and join them. In the depths of my being, I knew what was inside was what I yearned for. His Spirit called to my heart. Even so, I shook my head no, slowly turned, and continued on "my way".....into 5 more years of meaningless and empty life. I was taking the long way home.

The Bible is filled with examples of those who've done the same. In the Book of Ruth, Elimelech, his wife Naomi, and their two sons left their homeland of Judah for Moab in order to escape a famine. They were never to have done that, and in their time there, Elimelech and his sons died, leaving Naomi and the son's wives, one of whom was Ruth, alone. A devastating plight for a woman in that time. Soon after, Naomi, and Ruth, who would not leave her, began the journey home to Judah. Ruth 1:7 reads, "and they took the road that would lead them back to Judah." Naomi had taken the long way home.

Sometimes the long way home can be the result not so much of our wrong choices and actions, but our delay in the realization of God's given promises and dreams. God gave Joseph a dream concerning his destiny. Joseph had no idea the realization of the dream would involve long years of slavery, prison, and separation from those he loved the most. He was taking the long way home on a road designed by God Himself. God did so because He knew that it was that road alone that would transform Joseph into the man he needed to be in order to secure the dream becoming reality. Joseph, a prideful and arrogant young man, wasn't ready to realize the promise he'd been given. It was the long way home and His work in him along the way that would transform him. The same would be true of David, a shepherd before a soldier, and a vagabond before a king. It was true also of Peter, John, James, and all of the disciples. Might it be true of you as well?

You may be on the long road home today, whether from your own choices, as I was, or by God's design and working in you. 5 years after that encounter on my college campus, He set me on my own road home. Home to One who had made me and never ceased to call me. On the road the circumstances will sometimes conflict with the promise and the dream. Press on. Stay the course. Enter in. He knows the way. He owns the road. He'll get you home. It may be the long way, but it is the way. The Way, the Truth, and the Life. The home we were created for. The home that is the Father Himself.

Blessings,

Pastor O