"I just want to go home." The young woman's voice quavered with frustration, anger and fear. Her companion smiled. "I am home," she said. "Home is inside me."

The two women were among thousands grounded in a small airport in Newfoundland on September 11, 2001. They were sleeping on pews in a Salvation Army chapel, eating hastily prepared soup and sandwiches and drinking coffee out of disposable cups. Their schedules had been interrupted and for some time they didn't even know why. They had no idea when they would be able to resume their journey. But Jill Briscoe was smiling. She'd noticed the beautiful young woman and had felt the Spirit nudging her to connect with her. But when she tried to get close enough to strike up a conversation, there were always so many people, mostly men, around the model, that Jill couldn't get close enough. So she prayed. The Holy Spirit told her to smile. So for the next couple of days that's what she did. The young woman's eyes seemed to wander her way a lot. Every time, Jill smiled. Finally she came to Jill. "What on earth do you have to smile about?" she asked. Their conversation quickly turned to spiritual things. Jill explained how it could be that she was already home, though she was thousands of miles from her house, her family and friends.

As I heard Mrs. Briscoe tell that story, it made me think of an experience I had many years ago. I had been traveling in Europe, mostly Spain and Portugal, and had just returned. It took just over thirty-six hours to go from Madrid to Esnagi Lake, an isolated place in northern Ontario, where a job was waiting for me. The afternoon I arrived, I went for a swim and fell asleep on an air mattress. When I woke I was disoriented. I stared at the line of dark pine trees trimming the high cliffs. A loon let out its plaintive cry. I knew immediately I was not in Spain, but where was I? Then my foot slipped off the mattress and hit the cold water. Instantly my mind clicked into gear and I thought. "Ah, Canada. I'm home."

There is one sure way to know where you are, to know you are always ?home,? no matter your location on the globe. Keep at least one foot in the water ? the water of life. That is Jill Briscoe's secret, the one she shared with that famous model while stranded in Newfoundland. Mrs. Briscoe stays connected to the One who is home to her, the One who can be home to all of us, Jesus Christ.

In John 14:23 Jesus says ? "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him."

When God makes His home in you, you are always at home with Him.

Marcia Laycock is a pastor's wife and freelance writer living in Alberta Canada.  Her devotional book, The Spur of the Moment has been endorsed by Janette Oke, Phil Callaway and others.  To order, and to view more of Marcia's writing, see her web site - www.vinemarc.com
Copyright Marcia Lee Laycock, 2000, 2001,2002,2003,2004,2005