The Road Home

The concept of our true home gets much space in the New Testament. The prodigal welcomed home with open arms; the promise of Jesus to "prepare a place for" us in God's House; the many reassurances of Heaven and being with the Lord forever--all of this brings a warm stirring in the heart. If it feels so good to be welcomed to our earthly homes with a warm embrace and a hot meal, how much greater must be what we have to look forward to in our eternal Home!

I don't generally have much fondness for the practice of singing only part of a song or printing only part of a poem, but the original of this one (as journaled some years back) was 40 eighteen-syllable lines, and even I have enough rationality to occasionally see limits to the practice of including "everything." This edited version is taken from the end couplets of the first four stanzas and the whole of the last stanza.

There are city roads on the way to work, with small patience to face delay;
But when all is done, the best road's the one that leads home at the end of day.
There are interstates stretching on and on, with no end to the "came" and "went";
But all said and done, the best road's the one that leads home when your trip is spent.
There are country roads made for Sunday drives and for time with your loved ones dear;
But when all is said, the best road ahead leads you home when the night draws near.
You may drive a pickup or limousine, or your car may be caked with rust;
But whatever kind, the best roads they find are the ones that lead home at dusk.

You hear many speak of the "road of life," paved with fate or with what may be,
Its "wrong turns" we make, and its "one-way streets," and the "U-turns" that some will see.
You may be born rich, you may be born poor--things may turn to the "good" or "bad";
But the Road of Life is a path for all, whether happy or grim or sad.
But our Driver's path was the steepest one, and He carried the greatest load,
And He came for more than to pave our way--He Himself is the One True Road.
Oh, the roads of life ever turn and twist, full of detours that seem to roam:
But when life is past, the best road at last is the one to our one real Home.