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A strange phenomenon happens when you move away from your home country. All of a sudden, you'll start craving things that you can't get in your new country, even things that you never really desired when you were back home. For instance, I am a macaroni and cheese enthusiast! But macaroni and cheese is not a popular dish in Germany, and you can't buy any of the quick, easy-to-make macaroni and cheese here, like Kraft or Easy Mac. Furthermore, in America, I could easily access "premium" macaroni and cheese at many local restaurants. (I may be a vegetarian, but I love B-B-Q restaurants because they have the best macaroni and cheese around!) But now I find myself in the macaroni and cheese desert: none is to be found for miles (or kilometers, I should say). While I can and do make it from scratch, all of a sudden, I have started craving Kraft macaroni and cheese. The thing is, however, I haven't bought one of those blue boxes in many, many years. But all of a sudden, now that I don't have the option to buy it, I crave it all the time, in all its fake-powdered-cheesy goodness that tastes just like my childhood. Thankfully, there is a little import store here that occasionally has it in stock, and I always go in to check when I'm in that part of town.
The same thing happened with graham crackers, yellow Gatorade, Red Vines, Saltines, and literally everything from Trader Joe's. While my taste buds were longing for these unhealthy goodies, God was teaching me something about heaven.
"For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee."
(2 Corinthians 5:1-5, emphasis added)
Do you long for heaven? Are you "homesick" for the wonderful things that heaven boasts? It is so easy to get caught up in the things of this life and become apathetic to heaven, or even worse, to dread going there! It is not that we should desire death, but do we deeply desire all things to be made new, to finally stand in the presence of God and to be forever free from the presence of sin? Do we pray, "Come, Lord Jesus," (Rev. 22:20) or "You can wait, Jesus"?
I began thinking of all the silly things that I missed about Texas and began to ask myself if I longed for heaven like I longed for Texas. Heaven is our true home. I got the most homesick when I would dwell on things that reminded me of life in Texas. This encouraged me to dwell on heaven: to listen to music and read Scriptures that pointed me to glorious heaven.
While we are here, may we make the most of it. May we live for Jesus boldly and unapologetically, and all the while, may we pray, "Come, Lord Jesus."
So, I'll go ahead and enjoy my German Brötchen and Haribo gummies, but I'll keep searching for those boxes of Kraft macaroni and cheese when they are to be found.
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