A year from today I’ll be celebrating my first anniversary of really doing this blogging thing. I have been writing blog posts for about 5 years, on 3 different blogs. But recently I came to terms with the fact that I’m supposed to write and to share it, all in, and so I found an option for blogging that will be more user-friendly and allow me to grow. Today, the new leg of the journey – the new chapter of the story – begins.
Journeys and stories are my two favourite metaphors, as you will come to know if you stay with me. By the way, thank you for being here. I am grateful for you and I hope that this intersection of you and me will leave you with something to carry in your heart. Let this introductory post give you a glimpse into my vision for this work. It’s longer than the rest will be, to afford us both a robust beginning.
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I’m here to write about Home. I have been for years trying to find a way to unite my interests. Here are some things I care about: church, community, family, relationships, personal development, college – these realms and realities.
How are these related to Home?
- you need a sense of belonging
- you’re supposed to grow
- it goes better if you are authentically yourself and can be known
- you give and receive
See this Venn diagram as an example of what’s in my brain.
Home is where important things happen – habits and character are formed, we fight, we play, we sleep, we are fed and nourished. We make messes and we clean. We combat clutter. We can let our worst bits shine through, and we can be most intimate as well. We have to repair things – with tools and kind words. It is something we have to attend to. And it’s never really “finished.”
I’ve realized that I care strongly about individuals knowing they belong and finding their Thing(s). I care that depth exists in relationships and in creeds, in purpose statements and minds. I care that we encounter hard things and come through humbler and wiser. I care that no one chooses isolation, either by default or intention, and that unilateralism isn’t considered a viable approach to life.
I care that we create and cultivate, as our Creator does and did and will do. I care that people get over themselves and turn to worship that Creator.
I know that Home isn’t a comfortable or even safe word for many. I know you have disappointing stories and frightening experiences. I will never try to convince you otherwise. I will only say that the way I’ve described Home is as it was meant to be – as I think it ought to be. That is my grand premise, and if you continue with me, it will help to remember that. If you disagree, I hope you still join me and allow me to be with you in your thoughts.
I also hope you don’t hear me positing that Home is only safe. There are rough times, and unpredictable times, and sometimes there’s an ant infestation and sometimes everyone yells and cries. Maybe there’s a fire.
We weren’t made to actually live entirely in a building. And we weren’t made for comfort and safety. And yet, at the same time that God calls us to danger and adventure, He comforts us and protects us. He lets us enjoy, and He lets us learn through suffering.
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To me, Home isn’t boring, and it isn’t an excuse for staying in and being isolated. Rather, Home is itself an adventure. Adventure can itself be Home. Let us find greatness in the ordinary, for God calls us to all of it. And if we don’t follow Him, then who or what else will we choose? Where else will we go?
I will talk about going to Him and after Him and for Him and by way of Him. Because, Friend, He is the one real Home. He is our place of rest, our place of sending-out, our equipper and our protector. He is the One Who knows us fully, Who disciplines us and loves us and gives everything for us. It is in Him and in His Presence that you truly belong, whether or not you acknowledge Him.
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Would you come with me as I learn and write about Home, in all its facets and manifestations? I expect you will feel sometimes uncomfortable and sometimes at the greatest ease. Perhaps even at the same time. But I always desire that the words you see here remind you of your longing for a Home and your need for God, our only real rest.