Brothers and sisters,

Brother Jeremy gave us an excellent reminder during today’s message: we are strangers in this world. Preaching from Hebrews 13:1-16 Jeremy urged each one of us to be counter-cultural. We are to live our lives differently than the lost.

I was thinking about this as I drove home from church and it reminded me of my time living overseas. I remember my first night in Germany when I first heard the tell-tale “hi-lo” police siren that, until that moment, I’d only heard in movies. I remember thinking, “Wow, I really am in a different land.” That feeling of living in a land not my home only intensified as I changed countries. Driving on the other side of the road in England, for instance. Or shaking my head for “yes” and nodding my head for “no” in Albania. Saudi Arabia was the most foreign (to me) land I visited. It was fascinating, beautiful, and drastically different from what I was used to.

Now, while I enjoyed living in these places, I never got past thinking that, ultimately, they were not my home. And Jeremy made me think, “How comfortable am I in this world?” Because this world is ultimately not my home either. I hope I never get past thinking that, while this world is pleasant at times, it is still a foreign land and I am only here temporarily.

How do you feel?

Blessings in Christ,

David