A Gypsy -- At Home

      I guess I've been a bit of a gypsy all my life, with a wanderlust since I was a child and ventured into the abandoned field behind our modest country home. There I could watch the clouds drift by and dream of magical places far away. 

      My first adventure away from home without my parents was to the N.C. Baptist Assembly at Fort Caswell by the Sea. How grown up and independent I felt at age twelve to be spending a week "on my own" with a group of my peers from church. That place would become a sort of touchstone for me, a place I longed to and did return to again and again throughout my youth, a place to feel closer to my God and Savior. Even now I can go there in my memory to sit atop the fort at vespers beneath the huge cross, basking in the warmth of the soft ocean breeze and the sweet music of a hymn from Joey Overby's gleaming trumpet. "Turn your eyes upon Jesus; look full in His wonderful face..."

      Even then, I would never have imagined that those exotic places of my reveries would become my reality for a while-- that few years when my suitcase and an airport became my home between dream-like visits to such places as Russia, Tahiti, Hawaii, and the hypnotic islands of the Caribbean.

      Though I had given my heart to Jesus at a very young age, even as I wandered the globe I searched, I think, for a "heart home." As I traveled I always said-- and it was true-- "I'm at home wherever I am." I talked to God occasionally during that time, and even attended church once in a while. I'm not proud that that was it-- acknowledging God when it was convenient, while not living at all a godly life. I look back and wonder why my family didn't disown me-- maybe because they did have godly love.

      As I just read Psalm 34, so rich with wisdom for a wanderer like me, I noticed something in verse 7. It reads, "The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and rescues them." Did you get that? "Encamps" sounds like camping, meaning a temporary dwelling! I've often said that God chased me down in all my running until I finally stopped and let myself be caught. All that time, all those places, the "angel of the Lord" (usually referring to Jesus!) was right there with me, still making His home in my heart! Now THAT'S something to smile about! :-)