Benefit of Transition: No World to Call Home

People take comfort in home. In this ever crazy world, comfort is
welcomed, and where better to be comfortable than at home? I know that
people take comfort in home, and they also take comfort in knowing
people who share the same home as they do.

Which is why the idea of home for me is a bit of a prickly pear.

I mean, if I call Papua New Guinea home, then there will be some people
who think good thoughts about that, and some people who think sad
thoughts about that. For example, my family would be more comforted to
know that California, USA is my home. Or my boss in PNG would take
comfort in knowing that I find PNG to be my home. Patriots would find me
saying "USA ALL THE WAY!" to be comforting, but my non-American friends
may not care at all about my patriotism and in fact may take delight in
knowing some of the non-American traditions I enjoy. (Like Boxing Day).

So for me, answering the question 'where is home?' is tricky. But not
because of any of that. I don't care about what men think of me nearly
as much as I care what God thinks of me.

Romans 12:2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be
transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test
and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

My family is in a lot of transition right now. Admittedly it is
discomforting. It's down right stressful and aggravating and we long to
settle into a place. This Saturday we're attempting to do that. But
even if we're not travelling all the time and living out of suitcases,
we're still living with a foot in the U.S. and a foot in PNG.
It is unsettling, and so today as I was praying to God to help me get
over this constant stress of being unsettled, of not having a home... it
hit me...

One of the huge benefits of not being settled is that I don't fall into
the temptation to get too comfortable.
It makes living out that Romans 12:2 verse so much easier.

While I'm in the U.S. I move through it, feeling as if I don't really
belong here. I feel just enough out of place to glide through like I'm
a visitor.
When I'm in PNG, it's obvious I don't really belong there, but I reside
there to make an impact.
In both places there is this sense of comfort in knowing that I don't
belong here.... not really.
But years before we moved to PNG I had that feeling too. It's because I
put my mind to the fact that heaven is my home. That's where I'll be
going, it's where I'll end up, and any place I visit along the way, I am
nothing but a temporary visitor there.

Though many things in life bring stress, the idea that you are not tied
to this earth, bring a lot of comfort.
Being in constant transition means that it is much easier to keep that
in mind. There may be 101 negative things about having not place to
settle and be comfortable and call 'home'. But there is 1 major thing,
good about it, and I can take comfort in that. Because it's a really
good one.