Where is our true home if not in the presence of God?

"Metaphor of the Moon"

When I was a child, there were occasions when I spent time  away from home. Off to summer camp in Rutledge, Georgia. A missions trip to New York. Family Vacations took me to Alaska, Wyoming, and Maine and many spots in between. And sometimes, during there trips, I Found myself longing for home. During lovely nights, I often found myself searching the sky for the satellite that finds me wherever I am-the moon. Even as a child, it struck me that the moon looked very much the same whether I was at home, in New York, or Wyoming. I always smiled when I say its familiar white flow in the night sky. In a sense, it made me feel at home. Or perhaps it made me feel as if the whole world was my home

     Immanuel. God with us. Think about that for a moment. God with us. It struck me as I began to ponder the idea that that my experience of the moon as a child is a metaphor for God's presence in our lives. Wherever I go, is not God there? Where is our true home if not in the presence of God? Aren't there times when God seems Hidden from us, as on those nights when the moon is in shadow?
     
     But God is more than this metaphor suggest, too. The moon is a far-off land. We are separated from it by the great expanse of space. But God has brought us near. Matthew reports this truth to us: "Look the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means 'God is with us'" (Matthew 1:23). The good news is that God has come near to us in the person of Jesus Christ. Paul says it another way, "But now in Christ Jesus you who were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace... and has broken down the dividing wall" (Ephesians 2:13-14)

     There may be times when it feels as if we are still far from God, doesn't just make us feel at home, God is our home. And God's peace goes with us in this life.

~Jeremy Samples