"This world is not my home, I'm just passing through.My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue...
And I can't feel at home in this world anymore."
This World is Not My Home, Words and Music by Albert E. Brumley 1965
Dear Friends,
In many ways the past summer "vacation" has been one the most difficult I have experienced. I have truly felt the reality of the phrase, "this world is not my home." There are many definitions of "home," but with every new and temporary experience, I longed more for my eternal home.
Returning "home" from China was in itself a contradiction. Our home in Hagerstown is rented out to a lovely woman and her three children, so we could not return to that home. Instead we stayed with my parents for couple days, before heading to Virginia and then Pennsylvania. During the month of July we lived at Brad's parents house for five weeks, working at Brad's old summer job teaching swimming lessons. Just as I was beginning to get the hang of things, August hit in all its fury. In three weeks we were in Washington DC, Ocean City Maryland, Durant Iowa, Chicago Illinois, Grand Rapids Michigan, Thurmont Maryland, Hagerstown Maryland, Ellicott City Maryland, and Chantilly Virginia. It is hard to believe that in one more week we will be headed "home" to China again.
The constant traveling and time with friends and family has been both a joy and a challenge. Through it all, I must continue to remind myself that "this world is not my home." Despite any preconcieved notions of what "home" really is, I must remember that my father has for me an eternal inheritance and a home that cannot be destroyed. I can rest easy knowing that he has made a time for everything in his plan, and right now his plan is that I be "home-less." If "home is where the heart is," then I know that I was made for another world, and an eternal home.
Love,
Jessie and Brad
"If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world."
-- C.S. Lewis
