"There's No Place Like Home"

How many times have you watched "The Wizard of Oz"?  I still never tire of it.  Especially the universal theme of seeking that which is "over the rainbow".
 

Every character is seeking something in the story.  For example, courage, heart or intelligence.  But the MAIN character Dorothy is seeking to go HOME.

But what is home?  Over the years, home has been many places for me.  In my youth, home is where my hometown was and where my family lived.  I can remember the feelings of  home "sickness", when I would be away at camp or college and long to be back "home".  That place of comfort, predictability and safety.

I still have deep longings for "home", but it is different now.  Like Dorothy, I still live in "Kansas", which I call Spokane.  Some of my main characters are gone now.  My mother and father have passed on, and I have an apartment I call "home".  But I still feel like I am in a dream, looking for the "yellow brick road" to lead me home.

For me, the whole experience of my life has not been unlike this movie classic.  I have spent most of my time trying to find the permanent and perfect home.  My brain knows it does not exist on this earth, and yet I have this longing for this kind of home I KNOW exists somewhere. (If not over the rainbow... then where???) 

I have come to believe that this "Home" is heaven, and the parent always available is God.  I have faith in this because nothing else can explain this longing...and it is universal.   Sometimes when I pray, I am really writing letters Home...just like a kid away at camp.  I feel like I do not belong here, and it is a temporary visit.  I long to be reunited with my Perfect Parent...Permanently.

I found it quite astonishing to read this in the Bible.  In Hebrews, the author talks about main characters of the Bible who had all lived by faith.  Here is what he has to say about them...
 
"And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.  People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own.  If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would  have had opportunity to return. Instead they were longing for a better country - a heavenly one.  Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them."  
  -Hebrews 11:13-16

I don't have the answers for many things...like what I am supposed to do while I am here.  All I know is, like Dorothy I do long to be Home.  There are times when I feel very close to Home, and I don't need a "wizard" to take me there.  If I told you how simple it was, you wouldn't believe me.  Just close your eyes and repeat over and over... "There's no place like Home". (And don't forget to tap your ruby slippers while you do this!)

That is the advice that Glenda the witch gave to Dorothy and maybe she is right.  Maybe Home is not over the rainbow.  Maybe it is closer than we know.  Maybe we don't have to wait until we get off this planet.  Maybe we can have a few moments when we are "here" and Home.  Jesus said it best:

"The kingdom of God does NOT come with your careful observation, nor will people say 'Here it is, ' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is WITHIN YOU."  -Luke 17:20-21.