There's no place like Home

In Townsville- "Wow you must be excited to be going home"
Port Moresby- "Eh timoti, yu cum bec long ples bilong yu(Tim, you've come back to your place (home))
Ukarumpa- "Welcome home"
Ukarumpa- "So when do you go home?" "Townsville or Island?" "Townsville"
Ukarumpa- "So are you excited to be heading back to your island- that will b like a big homecoming?
Tubetube- "Aiiiuuulee, Timoti alla yanuwa ku vivlaoi. (expression of delight maybe yay, Tim you've come back to OUR (inclusive) Home)
Tubetube- "Tawhynasana kan ku vivaloi um Yanuwa (When are you going to YOUR home)"
Tubetube- "are you excited to be going home?"
Townsville- "How was home?"
Townsville- "welcome home"
If you got confused reading this imagine how this makes me feel- It leads to the question what is a home. Following a journalist's lead I sourced wikipedia which claims that
Home is place where a person or family lives, perhaps spends much of their time, or where a person is comfortable being. While a house (or other residential dwelling) is often referred to as a home, the concept of "home" is broader than a physical dwelling. Home is often a place of refuge and safety, where worldly cares fade and the things and people that one loves becomes the focus.
The word "home" is also used for various residential institutions which aspire to create a home-like atmosphere, such as a retirement home, a nursing home, a 'group home' (an orphanage for children or a retirement home for adults), a foster home, etc
This definition adds to the confusion because often home- isn't where we spend most of our time and in some situations isn't a place of safety or refuge. And then there is all the physiological side too, again wikipedia "Since it can be said that humans are generally creatures of habit, the state of a person's home has been known to physiologically influence their behavior, emotions, and overall "mental health". For example, in the introduction to the movie Patch Adams, the concept of "home" is compared to the human need for peaceful sanctuary and the absence of it thus leading to restlessness. Such restlessness, as can be seen by that particular case, may lead to depression and, ultimately, to a loss of blood."
So let me ask you a question what is it that you value most or identify most about home?
MK (missionary kids) have been renowned over the ages for struggling for a sense of an identity due to their lack of an easily identifiable home. Ask an MK where they are from and they will probably reply "well mum was from A and Dad was from B and I was born in C and moved to D where I stayed until moving to E" sound familiar anyone? But the majority of people move on after a while and assimilate in the local culture- hiding behind a mask to fit in with the crowd. Every now and again it cracks letting a little out for the world to see and that's ok because 'they're different'. It was really sad though to meet up with one of my old hostel sister who was never able to adapt to living in the US, she longed for home too much. But when she couldn't take it anymore she returned to ukarumpa but everything had changed. How do you comfort some one when their whole lives has built towards this dream that can never be realized and see their world crumble around them. It is a pain that no one should have to go through. But each of us will regardless on who we are because we live in a fallen world. To quote from a movie "This is not your home..." The bible tells us that our true home in in heaven with God 2 cor5:1. And until we live with this goal in sight our world will crumble again and again. So let me ask you again "Where is your home?"

Psalm 84
1 How lovely is your dwelling place,
O LORD Almighty!
2 My soul yearns, even faints,
for the courts of the LORD;
my heart and my flesh cry out
for the living God.
3 Even the sparrow has found a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may have her young—
a place near your altar,
O LORD Almighty, my King and my God.
4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house;
they are ever praising you.
5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.
6 As they pass through the Valley of Baca,
they make it a place of springs;
the autumn rains also cover it with pools.
7 They go from strength to strength,
till each appears before God in Zion.
8 Hear my prayer, O LORD God Almighty;
listen to me, O God of Jacob.
9 Look upon our shield, O God;
look with favor on your anointed one.
10 Better is one day in your courts
than a thousand elsewhere;
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
the LORD bestows favor and honor;
no good thing does he withhold
from those whose walk is blameless.
12 O LORD Almighty,
blessed is the man who trusts in you.