(Pastor James Scarborough, Donalsonville Assembly of God)

I told my wife the other day that my other girl was mad at me and not talking to me anymore. She started to wonder what that meant and what might possibly have gone wrong. She very quickly asked if I meant a young lady who is a dear friend of ours that I sometimes refer to as my other daughter. It was then that I told her that my GPS had quit working. (In case you are not familiar with this electronic travel aid, it has a voice that sounds like that of a lady as she tells the driver which turns to take in order to reach the destination that has been keyed into the memory of the system.)

A GPS is the latest addition to my arsenal of electronic gadgets, and I am enjoying it immensely--except the other day when it quit working! Fortunately, I was on a familiar road and had no problem finding my way home. Had I been in the middle of a big city that I did not know my way around, it would have been a much different matter.

Several times I have instructed the GPS to direct me to a location, but choosing to take a different route than the device told me to go. What happened then? The announcement “Recalculating” was made, and new instructions were given as to which way I should go. But the most reassuring message that it gives takes place when I turn onto the street we live on and the voice states, “Go two tenths of a mile to home,” and then, “Arriving at home.”

There is something special about arriving at home!

I visit a lot of people in hospitals, nursing homes and jails. Without fail, the thing that is on their minds is going home.

Our life on earth should be about going to our eternal home in Heaven to be with Christ for all eternity. Philippians 3:20-21 reminds followers of Christ of where our true home is: “But our citizenship is in Heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who, by the power that enables Him to bring everything under His control, will transform our lowly bodies so they will be like His glorious body” (NIV).

As we proceed on our journey through this life on the way to our eternal home, it is essential that we do so with our full trust in Christ to guide us. As we too well know, life is often filled with trials and tragedies, the unexpected and unbearable. Yet in those times, when life takes us on an unexpected turn down an unwanted and miserable path, it might be as though God is saying to us “Recalculating.” Not because He is taken by surprise, but because His plan for leading us safely home includes some things that we would never choose and could never endure on our own. It is then that we have to choose to trust in His absolute control and authority, realizing that we see only a limited picture of life while He sees and controls everything.

As we trust God’s guidance and provisions, He will give us success in arriving at our eternal home. If we will be faithful to Him, the time will come when we will be “Arriving at home”--the eternal home that Christ went away to prepare for those who will believe upon Him.