Home With Jesus

By |Published On: March 17, 2020|Categories: 4-Minute Radio Program|
A front porch of a house with two large windows, ivy growing on the side, a black front door, two little white and blue checkered chairs, a brown package by the door and a beach cruiser leaning against the fence.

One question: What does home mean to you? 

Hi, welcome to Joni and Friends; I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and living more than 3,000 miles from the home where I grew up; living in California where the culture is so, so very different from life on our Maryland farm, well, it’s made me think a lot about what home means, what it is, why we long for it so muchFor instance, the fact is Ive lived more years in Southern California than I did back eastYou see, I moved to California when I was almost 30 years oldAnd here I am, in my 70s in the same house I moved into in 1979, here in California. That was more than 40 years agoBut you know what? In many ways, I think of Maryland still as my homePart of it is because, culturally, I’m just not a CalifornianOh, sure, I know my way around the Golden State and it is so beautiful; Yosemite National Park, the Sierras, the rocky shoreline along the Pacific Ocean. Butas lovely as it is in California, even after 40 yearsit doesn’t feel like home. 

But, don’t let me paint the farm in Maryland as all “home sweet home.” I recall after I had been in the hospital for nearly two years, I was so longing to go home where my best memories filled every room of our houseBut when they finally sent me home, that first night around our dining room table was miserableMy legs did not fit under the table, so my parents quickly had to remove hot casserole dishes while my sisters scurried to lift the table and place phonebooks under the table legsEverybody had to shift things around, and I felt so embarrassed to be causing so much troubleIt didn’t feel like homeIt felt awfulYet, that night around the table was so sweet and so tender – it struck me how caring and supportive everybody was being; we were familyThat first-time home in my wheelchair guess I realized what home meant – it meant the heartfelt tenderness that a family experiences when everybody comes together to meet a needYep, that night was bittersweetBitter in that I did not quite fit; I had to be carried up the stepsMy chair did not fit under the bathroom sinkAnd so much moreBut it was all so sweet because of our togethernessAll the love and family support made dessert that night taste wonderful for us allI was home in the best sense of the word!  

So, let’s go back to California for a momentYes, I know the freeways; I like our house; I like the sunshineBut what makes it home is my husband Ken TadaBecause we could be anywhere – we could be traveling to Kansas or Ohio, North Carolina or overseasand I feel at homeBecause home is wherever Ken Tada isHome is often in the backyard where he’s reading his fishing magazines. Watching him through the sliding glass door? Home is right out there, right where Ken is, watching himOr when traveling, even a hotel room can feel like home, just because in the morning it smells like his shaving lotionI smile, thinking that I’m home because I am where he isYou get the point, right? Home is where the people make it warm and welcoming. 

So, what is your home? What do you call home? It isn’t so much a Place, is itit’s about peopleEspecially if there is a need in the family where everyone has to come together and pull their weight, like when I first got out of the hospitalAnd there might be a similar need in your householdFill it, would you? For in so doing, you will be making your house a home, at least until that glorious Day when well all be called to heavennot a placebut home in the best sense of the word: home with Jesus.

© Joni and Friends 

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