Sweet Norah after her surgery...



Tonsils and Adenoids out... Tubes in



Little bro




Nomads

“Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself…”

These words, written thousands of years ago by the Sons of Korah stung me this morning. I was sitting in a dim room by myself looking for comfort in the Word of God and this is what I found. Birds have a place to go, a place to call their own. They have their own little place in the world where they can feed their young and settle down to sleep. Birds have a home, but I don’t.

You see, ever since two trees fell on our house, we’ve been staring down the barrel of an impending relocation. That means that while a construction crew comes in to rebuild our damaged home, they will stick us somewhere else. Our relocation specialist worked with a realtor to find us a home to go into. We checked it out and it seemed okay, so we signed the papers. Yesterday we moved in there and it was crazy. Turns out the house previously belonged to a chain smoker, which meant that we were trapped in a giant ashtray, which happened to have an address. All day long we opened windows and burned candles, but we couldn’t escape the smoke and dust that had accumulated over the decades. After many headaches and unceasing coughs, we gave up trying to sleep at around 3:30 AM and by 4:00, Christy was packing boxes!

Over the past few days we have packed, unpacked and packed again. I have acquired and then broken hotel reservations. We have washed our clothes in four different washing machines and cooked in three different kitchens. We have used bathrooms in 6 different houses. I have done walk-throughs on houses and apartments all over town. I have realtors, insurance adjustors, contractors, landlords, apartment managers and relocators on speed dial. We have signed and broken lease agreements and I am now on a first name basis with every person who works in the electrical or utilities department of Oak Ridge… Needless to say, it’s been a wild couple of days.

And there I was this morning at about 5:15 AM looking for some encouragement and solace in the Word, and one of Korah’s boys tells me about how birds have homes… Yeah!? Well what about us!”

With a quaking heart, I continued reading Psalm 84… “O Lord Almighty, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in Your house; they are ever praising you. Blessed are those whose strength is in You, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.” There it is. That’s what I was looking for. You see, we’re not really supposed to ever feel at home in this world. I do have a real home… a real nest and it’s not here. My true home is with You, O Lord. While I’m here on this planet, I’m just a pilgrim… journeying. I’m just a nomad, wandering around until I really and truly arrive at home with You. Oh, I can’t wait!

“They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion.”