We’re Not Home Yet
A true story is told of an elderly Missionary Couple from the early 20th Century who were returning to the United States from a 50-year ministry in the underdeveloped parts of Africa. In the fifty years they had experienced some victories but many losses including the death of a child whose body was buried near the mission’s station they had left behind. The Sending organization had finally insisted they retire and return to the place where they started out in life. On the same ship they were traveling on was the former President of the United States, Teddy Roosevelt who was returning from an African Safari. The wharf where the ship docked was packed with well-wishers hoping to get a glimpse of the returning President. A brass Band played patriotic tunes and confetti filled the air as the conquering hero walk off the ship. The old Missionary couple departed by a different gangplank as they had traveled the ocean in the “steerage” section of the ship below decks. As they were walking off carrying their meager belongings the old man paused to take in the festivities happening a few hundred yards away. He bitterly exclaimed to his wife, “It’s just not fair. We’ve sacrificed much and given beyond any reasonable measure and there is no one here to greet us. We will arrange our own transportation and will have to find accommodations tonight. Roosevelt has a carriage awaiting him and will sleep well tonight in a glorious room in the finest hotel in the city. We will dine on meager fare, and he will eat like a King!” His wife took the arm of her husband, looked deep into his eyes, smiled and said, “It’s really quite alright dear. You see, we’re not home yet!”
How true. At times we also wonder aloud why the wicked often prosper while the righteous suffer. And these are questions everyone who serves the living God will ask at some point in life for misfortune will befall us all at some point if we live in the real world long enough. However, this world is not the permanent dwelling place for the Christian, in fact we are passing through in a portable, temporary dwelling. Someday, the temporary will be exchanged for the permanent, the mortal for the immortal. When that happens the promise Jesus made to His disciples at the Last Supper will come to pass. John 14: 1-3 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 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. 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.” A home in the Father’s House awaits us. But until then, just know, “We’re not home yet!”