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My sweet husband and I are in the states right now for my only brother's wedding. Then we fly right back to Germany, because one week later, my brother-in-law also gets married! It's a busy time of year, but we are so thrilled to be visiting Texas, worshiping at Great Hills, seeing good friends and family, and eating allllll the Tex-Mex. But if I'm honest, every time I come back to Texas, it starts to feel less and less like home. It's a strange feeling to not feel quite at home in the place where you're from! On the day before we flew to Texas, however, I was with someone feeling the complete opposite: feeling at home in a place they've never been before. Buckle up; this is a cool story!
A former university student from our college ministry at Great Hills came to visit us in Germany. She has become a dear friend, and before she came to visit, I made a whole itinerary of what to show her for the best experience. I could never have imagined what God had in store. For the first few days, we saw castles and cathedrals and ate authentic German food, but she had sent me a message before she arrived with a request. Her relatives, dating back six generations, were from Germany. Her family had done a great job with ancestry, and she even had a few pictures that were taken in the 1970s of the home her great-great- great-great grandfather had built in 1830 in a tiny village about two and a half hours from where we live. She also had a picture of the front and back of the house where her great-great-great grandmother was born in a neighboring village. She asked if it would at all be possible to drive to these villages. Expectations of finding much were low, but she wanted to at least go there and be able to say she visited the village where her family came from before they moved to the United States generations ago. We were excited to take her on this adventure, but we truly had no clue what to expect. We had four photographs and two village names, and we weren't even sure if these buildings were still standing.
We arrived at the first village, looked around, and took pictures. We explored the cemetery but found no hints. At the second village, about ten minutes away, we did find a few graves with the family name of her great-great-great grandmother. We drove the streets looking for the homes in the pictures but to no avail. Eventually, I just started going up to people we would see and asking if they knew the houses in the photos. These are very small villages after all! One man thought he knew the house, but it turned out to only be a similar looking one.
We were about to head home when my friend and I saw a lady working in the garden, so we approached with our black-and-white photos and a little bit of hope left. She immediately recognized both family names and assured us she knew the houses. She got her husband and he confirmed. After inviting us to sit and drink some water, we followed their directions and actually found the home of my friend's great-great-great grandmother from the picture! It looked slightly different now (hence why we missed it), but it was beyond clear from the structure and angles that it was the same house. We were so shocked and happy! The home had been sold, and renters now lived inside, but we felt so accomplished and blessed to have found it. But there was one more house to see. We followed the directions back to the other village for the other house. As we approached, we knew we had found it! The very house her great-great-great-great grandfather built in 1830! And it still stood! It gets even better, though. Much to our surprise, the name on the mailbox read the same last name as my friend! Not really sure how we were going to explain ourselves without scaring these unsuspecting people, I found the words to explain the situation as I translated for my friend. These were indeed her distant cousins with a common ancestor: the man who had built the house almost 200 years ago! Though they were very surprised that a distant cousin from America just showed up at their house, they were beyond hospitable and kind. They chatted and shared photographs and stories for a few hours. After I took some photos of them together, they exchanged contact information, my friend prayed for them, and we drove home in awe of how God had led us to the right people and places to make this once-in-a-lifetime connection for my friend!
That night, I asked her what thoughts she had been processing since the drive home. She said that it was amazing to be in a place that her family had built. She said that sometimes in life, she feels out of place (as I think we all do occasionally). Yet, that day, she found herself in a tiny village in a country she had never visited before, and she felt like she truly belonged.
It made me think about heaven. I have never been there, but my soul knows that it is home. In John 14:2, Jesus says, "In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?" You, believer, belong in heaven. For now, you live here to bring God glory, but there is a place for you in heaven when the Lord calls you home.
Perhaps you feel like you don't fit in sometimes. In this broken world marred by sin, it is right for us to feel a bit out of place. But since the beginning of time, your Heavenly Father has had a plan for you. He has prepared a place for you, a place for you to truly belong – forever.
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