You Can't Go Home Again

Thomas Wolfe declared it, experience shouts it, and Scripture gives authority to the reality, "You Can't Go Home Again." Yesterday Kelly and I arrived to what I believe is the most glorious and beautiful state in the nation, Florida. I used to think that no matter where I was, in whatever country or state, I was defined by the state that was my home for almost forty years. In South Africa I was a Floridian. In Mississippi I am a Floridian. But I can't shake the haunting words I heard both African Americans and South Africans use to describe their existance and identity to a geographical place. When asked where they lived their reply was, "I stay in Kenilworth," or "I stay in North Biloxi." For some their reply is rooted in a lack of ownership but for others it is the reality of life. They are not bound by any one place, rather live life within a broader community. I live simultaneously in The City of God and The City of Man. In the City of God I am a citizen. My home is elsewhere, as C.S. Lewis described, with the "Emperor Over The Sea,"with God Himself. In the City of Man I "stay," a resident alien. Here I am no more a Floridian than I am a Mississippian. I have been in Orlando two days now and it is true, "You Can't Go Home Again." As much as I want to make this place my home it truly is the place I stay. The best places change. Here I am a stranger and an alien. One day, some day however it will not be so. God promises it and Jesus assures it. The Cross reminds me that the redemption which is individually know to the Saints will one day be revealed to all of creation. The effects of the fall will be undone. The curse will be removed. All things will be restored. My deepest heart's longing for "that place" will be known and experienced. Until then, the redemptive work of God's Lagniappe advances through the proclamation of the Gospel, the renewing of individuals, families, and communities.

Please pray for our time in Florida. We will be speaking to churches, leaders, and presbyteries- seeking prayer, recruiting teams, and encouraging the Saints with reports of God's work in the Bay.