A young seventeen years old man named Frank, weary of farm work and of saying “yes sir” to his father, decided to leave the “nest” and be his “own man.” His bags were packed on that December Sunday morning. Evening would be early enough to tell his parents, but then it happened. During a late lunch the radio exploded with news from Hawaii that Pearl Harbor had been bombed and the United States Navy was severely damaged.
A surge of anger and frustration came over the young man as the news broadcasts continued. This complicated his plans, but at least it was a way to leave home and do so honorably. Like Frank, many other young men went to recruiting offices that week, volunteering for the armed forces, and many homes were left behind in the days that followed. How could they know what lay ahead or how much they would miss home?
Months passed, and many waited anxiously for word from husbands, sons and daughters. For those overseas in battle, news and letters from home were now almost more important than life itself.
Frank found himself on a Battleship in the Pacific, under fire every day, and he thought of home every day he was gone! Memories! Thoughts of home! That’s what sustained many of those men in foxholes, on ships and in the planes. Frank would have gladly traded that Battleship for a shovel if he could just see his folks, work once more on his father’s farm.
WHAT DOES HOME MEAN TO YOU?
Now remember, we’re talking about “home,” not “house.” You may be able to buy a house, but you cannot buy or rent a home. Poets, preachers and others have made attempts at defining “home.”
ROBERT FROST: “Home is the place where, when you have to go there they have to take you in.”
A TEEN-AGER: “Home is where you go when everything else is closed.”
UNKNOWN AUTHOR: “Home: a place where the great are small and the small are great.”
WILLIAM G. BROWN: “The sweetest sounds to mortals given, are heard in Mother, Home, and Heaven.”
During our brief “homecoming” celebration, all are reminded of days gone by. While we should not seek to live in the past, we must be willing to learn from the past. If this congregation has anything to imitate it is not to be found in property or buildings, not in people of renown, not in numbers or dollars. What then? Only in our love for Christ, each other and our willingness to serve and be like Him – and we still have some work to do on that.
“For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth,” 1 Peter 2:21-22.
WHAT ABOUT A HEAVENLY HOME?
Some, like Frank, had to see what life was like away from home before they came to realize the value of home and family. Too many today can easily describe the “flaws” in their home but cannot see the joys and benefits of a godly home. As beautiful is that word “home” for us in everyday terminology, there is a heavenly home that is much sweeter – because it is an eternal home.
Some will be deprived of a heavenly home because they are in love with life on earth. Can they really think doing what they want for sixty years on earth has a greater value than an eternity in a heavenly home? One with fellowship with Jesus, one with joys too wonderful to be described by human words?
Evidently so, for Jesus said that in choosing a way of life, many will choose a way that leads to “death,” to an eternity with Satan and his “ministers” – as compared to few who will choose the way to heaven. See what Jesus had to say about this in Matthew 7:13-28.
Frank’s generation learned the value of “home” the hard way, and many were able to go back “home.”
However, those who choose to put today ahead of eternity will discover too late their mistake. When Jesus returns in his role as “judge” (John 12:48, Hebrews 9:27-28), it will be too late then to decide to serve Him.
There will then be a great “homecoming” for all of God’s faithful children. Those who have preceded us in death will be there. Some we have never known, as well as the saved of all nations and all generations will be there. Let’s all begin now to prepare for that great “Homecoming”!
