The soft, pitiful cries of the homesick boy reached my ears and resonated with my heart. “I miss my fam-i-ly!” he cried over and over again.

The boy had been staying with us for the weekend and even though his parents were due back the next day, it wasn’t enough. He longed for the completeness and security of what was home to him.

Deep within his small frame was a pain that was real and heart wrenching.

“I miss my fam-i-ly,” he cried again.  Ouch. My heart hurt for him.

And as I lay in bed later thinking about it, a memory came flashing back of a little curly haired girl, homesick at a Girl Scout sleepover.

We were in a large gym and many of that day’s events had come to an end. My friends and I had laid out our sleeping bags in a neat row. 

And, although I was having fun, I remember being washed with a sudden feeling of  ...

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Who is God? God is so much bigger than the here and now. He not only has today in His hands, but He also holds our futures. When we start to get "settled" into our routines, sometimes God reminds us that we're not home yet. For the Christian, this can be a joyful reminder. This life is not "it" and no, we're not home yet.

The pastor asked several members of his congregation to get up in front of church, spread their arms out wide and form a line facing us. 

Then he called a small girl from her seat and asked if she would place her hand out flat and squeeze it in somewhere near the middle of that human chain.

            
The pastor then explained that the chain formed by the arms represented eternity and the little child’s hand represented our life.

Pointing to the chain on one side of the child’s hand, he said that this end represented the life that went on forever, before we were born, and the chain on the other side of her hand, represented life that goes on forever after we die.

That was an eye-opener me. You mean there was all that before my life and, there’ll be a whole lot after it – here on this earth and forever after?

If you’re anything like me, you may be a bit ...

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