Christian Living

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“There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home.”

Those aren’t the words of Dorothy from Kansas; they’re mine, spoken when I was 5000 miles away from all that was familiar, most notably, the English language.

Oh, I said the chant in jest as I clicked my sneakered heels, but I might’ve welcomed a miraculous toss over the rainbow if it landed me back in my Georgia home in the good ‘ol USA.

My husband, oldest son and I were in the Ukraine. Please know, this isn’t a slam on that wonderful, eastern European country. The people were warm and friendly, the culture so enriching and the castles of dukes and czars were definitely things I can’t visit in my homeland. Even if the three-week journey had been a game of Russian roulette, I’d make it again. It was a God-directed trip, one that led us to an orphanage near the Black Sea, where a sprightly little boy awaited, hand-picked by the Lord to join our family.

“You’re a spoiled American,” my adventurous husband teased as he adjusted his proudly-purchased, Russian military fur hat (with ear flaps!) on his head.

“Nit (no), that’s not true,” I said, using one of the few Russian words I’d managed to retain after eight months with a “So! You Want to Speak Russian!” CD rom. “I just want to turn on the TV and understand what I’m hearing. I want to pick up a newspaper and know what I’m reading. Mostly, I want to go into a restaurant where I don’t have to point to a menu item and hope for the best.”

Besides that, I missed the rest of the family, my friends, my cats and my clothes dryer (they don’t have them in Ukraine). I longed for MY home sweet home.

We’ve all heard the expression, “home is where the heart is”, and we saw beautiful expressions of that through the pride and spirit of the Ukrainian people. We also saw it in Poland, where we spent three days while the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw was helping finalize Ukrainian adoptions. While there, we visited the Church of the Holy Cross, where the heart of Polish composer/ pianist Frederic Chopin is interred. Though Chopin died in Paris, and his body is buried there, his wishes were that his heart be returned to Poland, his home.

And so it was, which makes me think about how important home is to all of us.

Suppose, though, someone told us that the home we love…isn’t really our home?

That’s what the Bible tells Christians. Philippians 3:20 says, “But our citizenship is in Heaven”, Hebrews 11:13 says we are “aliens and strangers on earth” and verse 16 calls us people “longing for a better country—a heavenly one.” (NIV)

If home is where the heart is, then our hearts should be in Heaven. God actually commands that both our hearts and minds be there: “Set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” (Colossians 3:1-2, NIV)

In his book, Heaven1, Randy Alcorn states: “We cannot set our eyes on Christ without setting our eyes on Heaven, and we cannot set our eyes on Heaven without setting our eyes on Christ.” The first step, then, to putting our hearts and minds in Heaven is to focus on Jesus, on loving, obeying and serving Him while visitors in this foreign land. The next step is to read the Bible, and Biblically-based books about Heaven, so that we can anticipate all we have to look forward to!

Of course, we aren’t left to wander, and God provides us with earthly homes. Psalms 84:1-4 tell us how to set them up for His glory:
“How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the Living God. Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself where she may have her young—a place near your alter,O Lord Almighty, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you.” (Psalms 84: 1-4, NIV)

God dwells with us wherever we live, but someday He’ll take us to Heaven, and we’ll understand what it really means to say:

“We aren’t in Kansas anymore.”

Or better yet, “There REALLY is no place like home!”


1 Heaven, by Randy Alcorn, 2004, p.20


©Donna G. Morton, December 2005

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