rethinking "home"

As human beings, we share a deep longing for "place", specifically a place we call "home."  As Americans, we have taken this to another level: the average size of our houses has nearly doubled - doubled! - over the last 50 years.

It seems likely that we have confused "house" and "home". It also seems likely that we, as followers of Jesus, have confused our heavenly home and our earthly residence.  1 Peter 2.11 calls us sojourners and exiles.  Hebrews 11.13 also speaks of strangers and exiles.  Philippians 3.20 reminds us of our true citizenship.

As we conclude our wonderful time here at MTI, one striking similarities of nearly all attendees is the sale of their house. And beyond this, all of the attendees share the experience of leaving their home.

This is hard stuff. We all are reeling, all a bit out of place, yet sharing in this experience and calling together. Yet we all are pursuing this calling for the sake of the Gospel, and in this we rejoice.  There is considerable stress, there is the unknown, yet we know the One who calls.

As I've shared with brothers here at MTI, lyrics from a few older songs have flooded back into my mind. Rich Mullins sang You Did Not Have A Home:

Oh You did not have a home
There were places You visited frequently
You took off Your shoes and scratched Your feet
'Cause you knew that the whole world belongs to the meek
But You did not have a home
No You did not have a home
...
And You rode and ass' foal
They spread their coats and cut down palms
For You and Your donkey to walk upon
But the world won't find what it thinks it wants
On the back of an ass' foal
So I guess You had to get sold
'Cause the world can't stand what it can't own
And it can't own You
'Cause You did not have a home

The world can't stand what it can't own, and it can't own You 'cause You did not have a home. Do you see it? As we buy bigger houses ("homes"), it takes more money to buy, more money to insure, more money to upkeep, more money to fill, more time to maintain, more more more ...  Is this what our culture has done and is doing to us?  This has been a challenge to me.

What a sweet pleasure it is to invest time and live life with brothers and sisters who have intentionally, with pain yet persistence, leaned into the direction He is calling each of us!

One other lyric which has flowed through my mind the past few days is from Michael Cards' Things We Leave Behind:

We show a love for the world in our lives
by worshipping goods we posess
Jesus has laid all our treasures aside
"love God above all the rest"
'Cause when we say 'no'
to the things of the world
we open our hearts
to the love of the Lord and
its hard to imagine
the freedom we find
from the things we leave behind

I thank the Lord today for the freedom we are finding, hard though it is, from the things (the things) we are leaving behind.

For information on house sizes, see:
https://www.newser.com/story/225645/average-size-of-us-homes-decade-by-decade.html
https://247wallst.com/special-report/2016/05/25/the-size-of-a-home-the-year-you-were-born

Why language learning?

We are investing the month of June at MTI, a learning / preparation center for living cross-culturally.  The first few weeks focus on phonetics, phonology, the production of (often non-English) sounds, etc. To learn the method of language learning, we practiced in Russian, Mongolian, and a southeast Asian language spoken by fewer than 50,000 people.  Fascinating!

Why invest this way? 

Recognize that language learning will affect your personality and self‐expression.  ... As a Czech proverb says, “Learn another language, get a second soul.”  A‘new side of you’ will begin to emerge as you get into this production!  You will begin to take on their mannerisms, behave as they behave, respond how they respond, bristle where they bristle, etc.  And you may actually relish it!  

- MTI Perspective page 7

This is our initial step: to gain a new side of ourselves, to take on the perspective and understanding (imperfect though it will always be) of the Bosnian people.