Coming Home

I may have mentioned that a friend of mine has recently been diagnosed with leukemia. That friend has been in the hospital for nearly a month, undergoing chemotherapy and other procedures and treatments on an almost daily basis. Very soon, however, my friend is going to be able to come home, and he is very much looking forward to it. He's looking forward to eating good food and sleeping in his own bed. He's looking forward to being able to spend time with his friends again. His experience in the hospital has been lifesaving and necessary, but we're both grateful that it's coming to an end.

I wonder if this is what dying will be like. Earth isn't so bad, just as hospitals aren't so bad, at least not temporarily. Still, there are some comforts that exist in our heavenly home that don't exist where we are now, and there is suffering we face now that we won't have to face when we get back home. And many of us have lost loved ones, and we're looking forward to being reunited with them. In many ways, death is a lot like coming home.

Granted, going home can be a difficult and/or painful process, and there can be a lot of unknowns. Some people fear the return journey, at least partly because they're not really sure where they're going. Yet, if we've been decent people, we can be confident that the place where we're going is going to be better than here. That's not to say we should be in any rush to get home. It's dangerous to go home too soon. If my friend hadn't spent some time in the hospital, he would have died. Meanwhile, our lives on Earth are even more necessary, and we shouldn't end them before God says we're ready to come home.

Earth life is a life-changing and necessary experience, but I'm grateful that we'll get to go back to our heavenly home when it's over.