[going home again]

[writer's note: this entry is hail to the original where is your home? entry that can be found in the archives. if this seems similar it's because it is; however it is not identical.]

where is home? is your house, your abode, your collected goods your home? or is something greater than a physical proximity or an address or an x on a map? is home simply a place in your heart? a place of safety from the elements or a refuge from teh violence of life? can it possibly be that those who are uneasy or ill at ease have only lost their way home? can it be that home isn't just where your heart is or where it longs to be; that home might be at the intersection of hopes and dreams-- where joy and peace give way to unfolding destiny? that the homeless are only just lost sojourners who have simply not know what home really is? can it be that the homeless aren't just those who live on the streets, under parked cars, inside of cardboard boxes, under bridges, behind tattered tarps and in shredded tents, but they're the ones without hopes and dreams, without vision and lack a sense of destiny? can it be? can it be that the homeless aren't just the shelterless?

what would it look like to take on this responsibility? to give hope to the hopeless? to give sight to the visionless? to give shelter to the shelterless? to be a father (or mother) to the fatherless (and motherless)? to be a lover of the loveless? to offer a home to the homeless?

i imagine; i imagine it would look a whole lot like Jesus.

[God-- who raises the dead]

"did you ever lament the demise of a dream? the death of a vision?

did it depart in explosive exit, followed by a funeral and observation? or did it quietly expire from neglect, slipping away unnoticed? have you forgotten that it ever lived? did you relegate it to that imagined abyss from which lost dreams can never return?

we enjoy a moment in america where we not only hear about pastors in some obscure corner of africa raising people from the dead. today, we hear more and more of the dead being raised in our own country—not just in places far away, where, we presume, they have more faith, but here, now. we are now even enjoined to raise the dead. raising the dead is part of the great commission: preach the gospel, make disciples, heal the sick, raise the dead! raising the dead is among the “greater works” that we are supposed to do. Jesus raised the dead; so, it follows, can we.

as testimony writer at bethel church, i organize the testimonies i receive by category on my hard drive so that i can find them more easily. i’ve just added a new category: resurrections. i relish receiving those testimonies from all over the country: the man who raised from death a fellow carpooler who had died suddenly on the way to work; the doctor who, rather than fulfilling her medical duty to pronounce someone dead, fulfilled her Christian duty to raise him from the dead; the worker who wouldn’t let the elderly man who had just died in the nursing home go until he was revived long enough to accept Jesus; the school of ministry students who, en route to their mission trip, pulled over to pray for a baby who had just died in an accident. under the eyes of a nurse who recognized the baby had died, the baby returned to life by the power of Jesus Christ, and the baby’s mother received new life as she gave her heart to Jesus. you have probably heard other stories as well. i know we will hear more.

yesterday, i was moved by the story of a dog kennel owner who refused to be robbed of a newborn puppy, crushed to death by its mother’s weight as she unknowingly lay on it. the woman commanded the puppy to live. he gasped for breath a few times, and he lives! what did they name him? lazarus, of course! she believes little lazarus is special and will be a blessing to whoever gets him. as i shared that story with a friend, she told me of a flower that had clearly died but that revived after she spoke life into it for several days. people. puppies. flowers. what else?

i’ll never forget the story of a man God used to start a revival. he was offered the job as pastor of a prosperous large church in a big city. but a small, dying church with a handful of members kept asking him to be their pastor. in his mind, there was no contest, but when the small church asked him to simply pray about it, he said, “Jesus, what would You do?” the Lord’s answer was, “i would raise the dead.” the man followed Jesus and took the dying church, and in that place, a huge revival broke out!

Jesus revealed Himself as the resurrection and the life! What works for dead people, works for dead puppies. and dead flowers. and dead churches. and dead dreams. what have you allowed to die in your life? what is it that you don’t even want to look at because you think it stinks, it’s been dead so long? Jesus isn’t bothered. Jesus would raise the dead.

a few months ago, I was grieving an area of death in my life. then God directed me to II corinthians 1:9 (nkjv): “yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead.” that verse just resonated in me; it gave me hope. God raises the dead. how could i forget?

looking back, i have seen Him raise things from the dead in my life. one i thought long gone, i had buried, placed a tombstone on, grieved and sighed over. but God resurrected it—better than before. i don’t know if it had to die or if His touch in resurrecting it was what gave it new life. i do know that it was now something i could only do by His grace, and His kiss was upon it. things that were dead but now live again by His power are precious—like lazarus, the friend of Jesus. and like lazarus, the puppy.

i’m starting to view dead things as an opportunity for God to manifest His life. dead things are an invitation to resurrection.

whether the dead is our passion, our hope, our dream, a relationship, a business, a ministry, a calling, He can raise it up. we can get it back. He specializes in restoration, renewal, reconciliation, resurrection, revival.

reading the story about the woman contending for the little puppy, i feel certain God was so delighted that she would ask Him to restore her puppy to life. i know He wants me to go after things, too. i haven’t seen a person raised from the dead. i admit that’s still an area of awe for me. but maybe my little victories of seeing God raise other things in my life are my lion and bear that precede the bigger giants to come. i want to be someone who believes, knows and experiences that God raises the dead!"

[note: reprinted with permission; written by my good friend pam spinosi]