Heading Home

When I was growing up, my mother used a bell to call me home for dinner. This is when kids played outside until the very last minute of sunlight and air conditioning existed mainly as a bright idea. But when I heard that bell ring, it meant come home, now! It’s suppertime! Time to join the family around the dinner table.

Twice in my childhood, my family lived with my paternal grandparents on their farm, which was self-supporting. We had everything from our own dairy to turkeys and everything in between. I fondly remember sitting at the dinner table with them. Because of all the animals and the fresh food from the gardens, I loved living with there with them, especially because of my sweet Granny. I still shed tears because I miss her, even after fifty years separation.

John the Revelator wrote, “Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!” (Rev. 19:9 NKJV) I was invited and I RSVPed so I know I’ll be there. Will you?

In my spirit, I imagine hearing the sound of that heavenly dinner bell ringing out and the call, “Come Home; it’s suppertime.”

I imagine that great, heavenly feast and sitting down at the family supper table with Abraham, David, and Paul. Or even better, my mom, dad, and grandparents. Better still, sitting next to Jesus. Woo-hoo!

With each passing day, I miss my precious Mom, Dad, and grandparents more and more. I long to sit at the dinner table with them again. And I know I will. They’re waiting for me.

Do you yearn for that heavenly banquet…to sit down with those gathered around the greatest supper table of all time?

Tune your spiritual ears to listen for that dinner-bell-call to come home!

If you love Southern Gospel, and even if you don’t, I hope you will listen to Come Home, It’s Suppertime by the Gaither group…



If the Master rings the bell tonight, will you be ready to go Home?

In the neighborhood where I live, I have one neighbor who likes to cause trouble. He picks the fruit from my trees, chops down my shade trees, and mows down my flowers.

He dumps trash in my yard, reads my mail, steals my packages from the delivery man, tries to tell me all the neighborhood gossip about my friends, and does his darnedest to make me mad.

Forever prowling around the premises, he tries to sneak in the windows and get his foot in the door, attempting to steal my belongings. So I put an alarm system on all the doors and windows.

He likes my house and wants to live here, but I’m under a lease contract for a single dweller. He can’t have it and he certainly isn’t going to move in with me! But he still continues to try to take it away from me.

It’s a comfortable old house, though it’s not the most beautiful on the block nor is it the biggest. The landlord was very generous in his lease, so I appreciate what I have, even if a few structural changes are needed.

A few of its rooms have become dusty and overcrowded and need remodeling. Some of the junk needs to be put out with the trash. Some rooms are in a constant state of upheaval; others just need rearranging.

The windows have become a little foggy, so they’re not as easy to see through as before. Some of the shingles are falling off the roof, while some of the fence pickets are missing. A few of the hinges have become a little rusty and don’t work as well as they used to, but the landlord I lease from said he would make all the necessary repairs. I know he will, for he is a man of his word. However, he does have a busy schedule, so I’m just patiently waiting my turn.

I thought it might be time to move, but he says I can stay a while longer, if I do some of the maintenance work. I do look forward to moving, though, because I’ve had my eye on this perfect, little cottage that’s being built. I’d really like to move there some day…there’s no traffic, no noise, the air is clean, great neighbors, the scenery is beautiful, and best of all, no more Mr. Meany!

I’ve called ahead to see if it was ready but they tell me they’re still working on it. Well, I guess I can wait a little longer. I’m not really finished renovating this one!

“For we know that when this tent we live in now is taken down-when we die and leave these bodies-we will have wonderful new bodies in heaven, homes that will be ours forevermore, made for us by God himself and not by human hands.” (2 Cor. 5:1 TLB)