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Real Answers™
dt30
Copyright: ©2010 Debbie Thurman
650 words

GO HOME

By: Debbie Thurman

As I write these words, I sit with my first morning cup of coffee next to a bay window that frames a glorious winter wonderland scene. Some 15 inches of pristine snow, glistening under a robin-egg-blue sky, blanket our “God’s little acre” in Central Virginia. The birds that typically brave winters here gather around the feeders for their breakfast of sunflower seeds or suet. A blazing fire crackles in the fireplace.

Ah, home, warm and secure against the unusually harsh elements. No better place to be just now, when the temperature is a mere 5 degrees. After thinking that happy thought, my very next one is of “the least of these” — the poor, hapless or homeless who are always with us, despite the opulent wealth of a nation that, in places, is drunk with its own excesses. 

But here, near what has been dubbed “the city of churches,” I know compassionate, intrepid men and women have shunned their warm beds to trudge through the snow and keep open the shelters and soup kitchens that minister to the less fortunate. Others of us provide the means for their service.

This is the God-given ministry of all Christians, the real Gospel-in-action. The servant’s heart is the bedrock of a healthy nation.

Where does any great nation develop and nurture this compassion? Not in a classroom and not in the halls of government. No, long before we make our way to either of those places, we learn what a home is, by being blessed with one — or isn’t, by being deprived of one. Even the most rejected and poorest among us have eyes to see what they long for more than anything — the warmth of a home, the love of a family. And they see God in ways most of us do not.

When selfless men and women leave their homes and families to travel to distant lands to bear arms in defense of the sacred way of life many of us take for granted, it is not some pithy, rousing platitude their president may have uttered that urges them on in battle. No, it is a slightly dog-eared photo of loved ones they hold close to their hearts and look at with longing, loving eyes that gets them through the lonely nights and endless days in harm’s way. It may also be a small Bible, a rosary or some favorite Scriptures they keep as close as if they were body armor. Soul armor is also a coveted necessity.

Men and women is these desperate conditions share stories from home with their buddies or seek the comforting counsel of a chaplain, whose only side arm is that Bible. Interestingly, bureaucrats are not found in foxholes, unless it is to seize upon a photo op or seek more votes to keep them entrenched in the safety of do-nothing bureaucracy.

Strong families beget strong families that, in turn, make a strong nation. The more secure, loving and truth-based the home, the more likely the children raised there will be to grow up to become servant-leaders in their own right.

Our hope for the future lies not in our government and its bloated, ineffective programs, but in ourselves. It is fixed firmly in our faith in a triune God who never changes. He is “the same yesterday, today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). He “will neither slumber nor sleep” (Psalm 121:4).

Nations rise and fall. Movements are here today and gone tomorrow. But God and His truth are forever. Our future lies in strong families that are built on this firm foundation. By all means, let us resist to the death bending our knee to the enemies that would seek to destroy us. But let us also humble ourselves to bend our knees before God in prayer. That is where our true strength lies.

It is a good time to “go home,” America.

"Real Answers™" furnished courtesy of The Amy Foundation Internet Syndicate. To contact the author or The Amy Foundation, write or E-mail to: P. O. Box 16091, Lansing, MI 48901-6091; amyfoundtn@aol.com

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