Home

“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. You know the way to the place where I am going.” John 14:1-4

Last Monday, on the last leg of what turned out to be a long journey, we flew from Phoenix, Arizona to Sacramento, California.   I would have expected the plane to fly on a straight line, over the Mojave Desert, high above the Sierra Nevada range, and then float down in California’s great central valley where Sacramento lay.

Only the pilot had different plans.  It became obvious to me as I was able to look out the window and recognize Interstate 10 as it crossed the Colorado River, shot through Blythe, waived by a long neglected Desert Center and dropped into the Coachella Valley.

The views of the Salton Sea, San Gorgonio Mountain and Big Bear were spectacular.  And not in the line of flight, normally, between Phoenix and Sacramento.  Instead of flying northwest, we were on, for some unknown reason, almost due west orientation.

Then I looked down again.  A very familiar landscape appeared.  The mountains…the valleys, the winding roads….  It was clearly a great view of Lytle Creek Canyon; a winding gap nestled adjacent to snowcapped peaks of the eastern edge of the San Gabriel Mountains.  I pointed it out to Susie, and she gave it a view, and simply said, “Home.”

Home.

You see the small community of Lytle Creek is the place where Susie and I resided the longest.  For 15 years we raised our boys, enjoyed the beauty and the ruggedness of those mountains, and served the community in various ways. We designed and had our house built there.  It was while living there that I sensed a call into the gospel ministry and attended seminary part-time for a decade.  It was the hardest place for us to leave when the time came, as I entered the semi-nomadic existence of a pastor.

It was, and in many ways still is…home.  We loved living there.

Don’t get me wrong.  We’ll never live there again; I have no desire to return to California.  None.  We love where we live now in Southwest Pennsylvania.  We do.  Still, if there is one place we can describe as home…it is Lytle Creek.

Home.

In the passage I quoted above Jesus reminds us…that in spite of the attractions and attachments we have to our homes here on earth; this place, this life is temporary.  He has a home, a much better home prepared for us.

Jesus says, “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.”

For me, for you.  For all those who call Jesus theirs.  It will be a place greater than any place we have had here in this life, a place that has been prepared you us individually.  What will it look like?  Use your imagination; then expect even better than that.

Jesus’ words are a reminder that this place is not ultimately our home.  But our home was mean to be and will be with our Lord.  It will be a fine day.  And a great home.

Even better than Lytle Creek.

P.S. Yes, the plane made a graceful arch behind the San Gabriel Mountains and made its way north.  We landed in Sacramento on time.  Guess the pilot knew what he was doing all along….

 Listen to Switchfoot's "This is Home"