Last Wednesday in our Bible Study and Prayer Meeting, a sister shared the good news that God had given her a birthday gift she asked for: a good health!  After going through a series of tests the doctor finally concluded that she did not have the illness that she dreaded.  Praise God!  But on the same day, to be exact later that evening, a sister in Lord that attended our Bible Study at Oom Tim’s house passed away suddenly.  She had had a heart problem for some time but most recently she seemed to be fine.  Lately it was her husband who became the focus of prayer due to his declining health.  But God had another plan for them; He wanted her home.

Once again, we’re reminded that we do not know about tomorrow.  We do not know whether we will wake up to see the day and night or just the day.  We do not even know whether we will wake up.  But God does.  So, we give Him thanks for each day; we thank Him for the good news of health and the bad news of sickness.  We trust in His good will, and we follow Him in this life’s voyage.  We do not know how long we will be on this voyage or how far we will travel.  We only know that the destination is home.  We are going home.

One of the songs that has become a beloved for many Americans is Home Sweet Home, written by John Howard Payne in Paris, while he was away from home in Long Island.  As an actor and playwright, he was busy and often away from home.  But despite all the success and fame, he was lonely; on that gloomy day in Paris, he suddenly thought of his boyhood home and how much he missed it.  He then, took a pen and began pouring his heart out, “Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam.  Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home . . . . Home, home, sweet, sweet home!  There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home!”  I imagine it, too, shall be our song when we get to heaven, “Home Sweet Home.” 

Pastor Paul