There's No Place Like Home

"There's no place like home."

People see that sentence differently than others. Some people think of their childhood home. Some think of their current place. Others might say they don't believe they have a home. But when they say that, I don't think they mean in the physical sense.

I grew up going to church my whole life. From a young age, my family instilled in me the importance of being plugged into a community of believers. Growing up, I always heard the church referred to as a "home" or a "family." But can I be honest for a moment? At that age, I said it like I believed it. But, in reality, I don't think I ever truly grasped it.

Over the last few months, God has been stirring up the word "home" in me again. One night, I remember sitting in my office with my guitar and no agenda. These are usually the moments where I'm just sitting and listening to what God wants to say. (I could write a whole other blog on the importance of that, but I'll save it for another time.) In one of those moments, I remember God speaking the word "home" to me. I can recall sitting on that word for a minute. For a minute, I wasn't sure what God wanted to show me. But in almost an instant, God began to place words in my mind. I don't really consider myself to be a "word" person. (That's definitely more my wife's strong suit.) So, in that moment, I knew it was God speaking. I began to write down what I felt God was showing me. I pulled this section from my notes from that night:

“Home is a safe place. It's your shelter. It's where your'e the most comfortable. It's where you are your truest self. It's where you belong. It's a place to call your own. For me, there's no one place I call home. There is the house I live in, but "home" is so much more. We serve a welcoming God. Even in the beauty, the chaos, the joy, and the unknown, His presence is a place to call home.”

While it's short and simple, it spoke volumes in that moment. What I didn't know at the time was God was, also, speaking this to other people around me. As we enter into this season of our church, our staff is believing 2022 will be a year of homecoming. For our church, and the big "C" church, our prayer is people will come home. Not just to a building, but truly come home to the welcoming presence of God.

If you don't grab anything else from this post, I hope you catch this:

The church is not a building. The church is you and me. The body of Christ is a family. Just like any other family, we are far from perfect. But here's one thing I know for sure: Even if everything else fades away, I still have a home. And there, truly, is no place like it.

Caleb Hall