I came home

How do you summarize a six-week time that started in Florence, took a trip through chaos and despair and ended on the beach in Malibu? I don't know how to do that.

Florence was wonderful but I came home to a heartache that had to be faced. Aslan would say that it was someone else's story and that I don't have the right to tell it, so I can't do that. But I can say that everything in my life was re-evaluated and up for grabs between the time I got home from Italy and my recent return from California. Everything but my desire for my life to please God.

I've relearned the importance of Christian friends and family. I've relearned the importance of loving God more than anything in this world. I've relearned that he uses the beauty of this world to communicate the reality of the next. I've relearned the importance of being both honest and honorable. I've relearned the difference that one person can make at a crucial time. And I've relearned that if you want to experience the joy of life you also have to be willing to experience deep, gut-wrenching pain.

I titled this blog back when there was a song going around that included the words, "Life is hard, but God is good." Today that feels truer than it has in a long time.

So I'm home but more than ever I'm looking forward to my real home. This one.