Strangers in the Land

I find new foreign foods and unusual customs a fun adventure. Yet while traveling internationally, my thoughts are never far from home. Although people make me feel welcome in their countries, two of the many things that make me feel like a stranger are my tastes and my treasures. Though I enjoy unusual foods, my taste buds feel most comfortable with "home cooking" and seeing wonderful treasures elsewhere never diminishes my longings for my treasures – family and home.

King David said to God,

For we are strangers before you and sojourners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no abiding. (I Chronicles 29:15 ESV) 

As I look at my life on this earth there is some evidence that I am not a stranger in the land. When I act as if the things of God taste like bitter medicine, my heart's attachments may be more for earth than heaven. David says,

Taste and see that the Lord is good... (Psalm 34:8 NIV) 

And when I accumulate more treasures here on earth than for the Kingdom, it would seem I am no longer a stranger in the land.

But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:20-21 NIV) 

Where is home?
 

Sharing the journey with you,