I’ve been thinking on Psalm 90 and verses 1-2 in particular since the message yesterday. It fits well with recent thoughts as I’ve been contemplating marriage and the brand new dwelling I will call “home” within a week. How many places have earned that title in our lives? Home. Was it your childhood home where you performed countless plays in your mom’s old dresses, where you knew far too well that dreadful “timeout” spot (for us, the blue chair), or where you made forts in the backyard with your brothers?
For most of us, that first home conjures up thoughts of safety, security, creeky old closets that made for excellent hiding spots, yummy smells, your full name being called when you were in trouble, first pets whose cages you’d rather not clean, maybe an attic that smelled like moth balls, little next-door neighbor friends, charades, daddy coming home from work with a candy bar for the kids in his pocket, sitting around the dinner table, and little league games on the weekend.
You don’t know any different. It was home and it was always there – when you were little. Then you grow up and make that first big move away. For me it wasn’t until senior year in college but it came – and with it – a world of change. I now had two homes: College and my parents’ house. It was hard to know what was really “home” during those years.
And then you really grow up and land that first job. This necessitated another move for me – one that’s had one of the single greatest affects on my growth in the Lord and love for His people. Everything changed in 2006 when I got my first job in Frederick, moved to Gaithersburg, and joined Covenant Life. It was the best of times. That whole summer, I lived in the Megordens’ basement which was pretty much a blast – lots of Filipino food and late night talks with Sarah. And then another change came in early fall when I moved in with some amazing ladies down the street. The Cloverwood House. Another home. For a few years anyways. Again, it was a major blessing in my life, living with those girls.
2008 came and brought with it many more significant changes. I’d move to College Park, MD to do full time campus ministry at the University of Maryland. One of the best years of my life thus far. And with it – a new house – full of girls.
I had the privilege of living in the Stanford Estate for about a year and it was complete with good humor, loud mornings, lots of baking, guests at all hours, study parties, uno, attempts to watch movies on that awful tv we had, homemade music videos, deep conversations, crickets, sleepovers, and the list goes. It was home – for a year.
Summer 2009, and my life changes again. My most wonderful best friend asked me to marry him. And I said yes!
And since that summer night in August, I’ve been living back home, in the house where my life began. When I leave in a few days I will move from this home to a new house and start a new family. I think it’s hitting me. This transition is a bit bigger than all the moves up till now. But our God is the Rock of Ages and that is why Psalm 90 struck me in such a new and powerful way yesterday.
“Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting You are God.” Ps. 90:1-2
Regardless of where (or who) we call home on this earth, our true and everlasting home will never change, fade, or end. And if we are blessed with the comfort and security of home and family here, it is merely a shadow, a foretaste, of what will be our final dwelling place. He is our dwelling place. Hallelujah!
bEtter together. 