Thursday, April 16, 2015

At Home?



When you don't feel at home when you are home, it is not pleasant. That is where I am at with my current home where I have lived since November 1 of 2014. Whenever life gets difficult and problems arise I have the habit of asking God, "What are you trying to teach me here?" Most of the important things God has taught me have come from some of my most difficult times in life and I know this time is no different.

So here is the issue, a little background for you. I have asthma and a month ago a built in air freshener system at the apartment complex I live at was turned on. One morning as I will leaving for work I enter the main lobby and immediately started to cough and wheeze, I was having an asthma attack. Up until that day in March it had been 13 years since I had an asthma attack. I took necessary measures to eliminate things in my home that trigger asthma attacks and to avoid those things as well when I went out in public and I have successfully managed, with one prescription, to keep it under control. When I reported the incident to the apartment manager he spoke with his supervisor and they turned the system off. I was happy. That is until yesterday morning.

Fast forward, on Wednesday, April 15 I once again went through the main lobby, leaving for work and felt myself begin to wheeze. I emailed the apartment manger to find out if the system had been turned back on. It had been and he had not been told. The management company has offered to move me to another apartment in the building but that is not going to solve the problem given the mailboxes are in the common area where the air freshener is being pumped into.

Needless to say my home has become a detriment to my health. Not a good thing. It got me thinking about Jesus and the disciples. They didn't have a home, they traveled and depended on the kindness of strangers to give them a place to rest their head. Jesus even spoke twice about not being at home. Read below:

Luke 4:24 (NIV) 
"Truly I tell you," he continued, "no prophet is accepted in his hometown."

Even when Jesus was home he was not at home because he was not accepted

Matthew 10:14 (NIV) If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet.

The reality is we will never be at home on this earth. If we live fully into our faith in God then we will never be comfortable living here and our soul will long and yearn for our real home, Heaven.

So how do we live with this dissatisfaction with our earthly home while waiting for God to bring us home? I believe it is my fully trusting in and leaning on God. That is what our Lord wants, for us to fully depend upon him to get us through this life till we enter the next one.

*if you are reading this I would appreciate prayers as I try to resolve the above issue with the Property Management company. Thank you.