Time flies!

I have been in New York for over four months now. The time has passed by so quickly. I can't say that it has all been fun, but as I look back on this time I am so glad that I came. Things are not as I imagined them to be in many ways, but I am not disappointed by any differences. Finding a church was easy for me, and I don't feel like I had to settle on one. I have friends who are becoming more and more dear to me with every passing day. My apartment has given me so interesting trials, but even there I will chalk up those trials as life experience that may come in handy later in life. If nothing else, I can look back at this place in the future and tell stories about life in my first apartment. I have seen God's hand in my life and know that He is watching out for me, guiding my path when all seems dark around me, lifting me when my countenance is low and blessing me beyond my expectations. I will be on an airplane in 48 hours, heading home for Christmas. I am definitely excited to see my family and friends again, especially to have my whole family together to celebrate Christmas. That will be the best part of my visit. I miss the people I left in California, and I think that being away for this long has made me realize just how much I love them. They are what makes going home going home. (As I was writing this, my phone rang. My parents were calling me and I have my cell phone programmed to play "Homeward Bound" when they call me - quite appropriate, given the topic of this post.) Yet when I board the airplane in Los Angeles in January, it will be to come back home. This is where I have chosen to live, so this, too, is home. I have a bit of a "home" identity crisis at this point in my life, but that is good for me because it helps me to recognize that there is no real home for me on earth. My home is in heaven.

"All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is a heavenly one. There fore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them." ~ Hebrews 11:13-16

"Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also." ~ John 14:1-3