Here and Home

Here
It hit me. It FINALLY hit me! I'm here-IN Costa Rica! I'm here! I'm living here. I'm really HERE! I know, it sounds like I'm having a major blonde moment or sudden recovery from temporary amnesia, but let me explain. I looked forward to coming back to Costa Rica for almost 2 years, ever since I finished studying abroad. I know that's not a terribly long time. But, since I had to raise support, I didn't know when exactly I would be able to come back. I had to have all my support pledged before I could do so. So, Costa Rica became this kind of "in the future....someday" kind of thing. I tried to think about what I would actually be like when I was able to go and I imagined lots of squealing and jumping that would last up until I landed in Costa Rica and then I would be living in surreality until it hit me.
Well, there was lots of bouncing and squealing involved. But when it came down to it, I felt cool as a cucumber. Maybe I was affected by my extreme sleep deprivation my last night in Grove City. I had expected sleep deprivation, but only out of excitement. The true cause of my sleep deprivation was my own procrastination and slowness in packing. Hence, I was a total zombie when I got to Miami. My time in Miami was fun and then I flew to Costa Rica. No squealing. It felt like the most natural, normal thing in the world. I knew things weren't hitting me, but nothing felt surreal. It just seemed real. I realize this might not be making much sense, but that isn't uncommon for me.
Anyway, I was e-mailing a fellow LAMer the other day (Tuesday, in fact) and I mentioned something about the people I had just been living with in Grove City. And it just hit me. I don't live with them anymore. I'm not going to live with them anymore. I'm in Costa Rica, living with my wonderful Honduran family in little ol' San Joaquín de Flores. I'm here!
Josué, my dear Honduran brother and friend was in the next room, so I shared my great revelation with him. He proposed a toast with milk. I thought that was a SPLENDID idea. So, we toasted to God's goodness and that He brought me here. It was fun and made the moment even more special to me, to have someone rejoice with me. (I think I may have posted before about how much I love people rejoicing with me. If not, now you know. I love it when people rejoice when I rejoice!)

Home
So, where is home? This question have plagued me for years now and I know I've posted about it before. Well, I don't know how this happened but Heaven actually seems more like home than ever before. I've known for a long time that my home is in Heaven, but I never really had a good concept of that fact. There has been a lot of talk around me lately about Philippians 1:21 "For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Between a few conversations, a good sermon from Rolando and a couple pointers from the Holy Spirit, I am finally getting to grasp this whole idea of my home not being on this earth. John 17:3 says "Now this is eternal life:that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." The collect for the Wednesday before Resurrection Sunday (from the 1929 Book of Common Prayer) says "Assist us mercifully with thy help, O Lord our Salvation; that we may enter with joy upon the mediation of those mighty acts, whereby Thou hast given unto us life and immortality; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen" (extra caps and emphasis mine) Immortal. Yes, my body with have a physical death and I'm not looking forward to the pain which might accompany that. But my true home, my real life is in Heaven, being with my precious, holy Jesus. He has a purpose for me here on earth, so may that be fulfilled. I am a vagabond here. I go from one place to another and it's not always easy and I often feel like I don't have a home (like a base). But, what a comfort and joy it is to know my real home is where I get to spend eternity, the presence of my Lord!