MY HOME SWEET HOME

          Many of us have wonderful memories of our home while we were growing up.  We remember the safety and warmth of those days and the love of our parents and family.  There was something special about home and I guess at times we may even wish that we could live those days once again.  But we can't.  My home where I lived while growing up has been sold.  Mother and dad and my brother are now in heaven.  All that I have now are the wonderful memories.  And if you don't have such memories, you probably at east have had experiences of vacations and trips and the joy of again coming home.  Home is where you belong.  Home is a special place.  But as we travel as pilgrims through our days here on earth, we should have a longing for our future home in heaven - a place that is being prepared for us where we will be with Jesus and where there will be no more pain or suffering.  It will be a place of eternal joy. "And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." (Revelation 21:23).  Rev. N. B. Vandall (1896 - 1970)  recognized the longing for heaven when in 1926 he penned the words of "My Home Sweet Home".  He was an evangelist with the Church of the Nazarene and was converted to Christ at a camp meeting in Ohio in 1920.  He also wrote the song "After" ("After the toil and heat of the day".)  In his second stanza of this week's hymn choice, Rev. Vandall noted two of the joys that await us in the heavenly city. First, we will be reunited with loved ones who have gone before (I Thessalonians 4:17; 2:19). And, second, we will participate with them in a ceremony of worship and praise described in the book of Revelation (Rev. 4:10-11). The final stanza reflects upon the brevity of this human life. Our pilgrim journey will soon end and believers will move on to our new home.  That is certainly an important event for the unsaved to  consider. Will your future home be the sweet home of heaven?  That is a choice which you must make today while you still can.   Will we see you in that beautiful, beautiful home with Him who loved you so?  I certainly hope so.

1.     Walking along life's road one day,

I heard a voice so sweetly say,

"A place up in heav'n I am building thee,

A beautiful, beautiful home."

Home, sweet home, home, sweet home –

Where I'll never roam!

I see the light of that city so bright  –

My home, sweet home.

2.     Loved ones upon that shore I'll meet,

Casting their crowns at Jesus' feet;

I'll worship and praise Him for evermore

In my beautiful, beautiful home

Home, sweet home, home, sweet home –

Where I'll never roam!

I see the light of that city so bright –

My home, sweet home..

3.     Life's day is short – I soon shall go

To be with Him who loved me so;

I see in the distance that shining shore,

My beautiful, beautiful home.

Home, sweet home, home, sweet home –

Where I'll never roam!

I see the light of that city so bright –

My home, sweet home.

Listen to it here.     HOME