"Home"

If there is a reason,

We know what’s right and wrong,

It must have been our family,

The folks to whom belong,

The code of good behavior,

And manners, morals such,

That taught us as young children,

What we should and shouldn’t touch.

But some of us were stubborn,

Though they showed us the way,

Decided not to listen,

That’s where we went astray.

We bolted and we busted loose,

We thought they did not know,

What the world was all about,

Their approach was far too slow.

We tasted of the wild life,

We ran so far and then,

We turned around and took a shot,

At running ‘round again.

And finally exhausted,

Out of fun and friends,

We wondered if we would survive,

The places where we’d been.

We asked someone directions,

They pointed us back home,

And every step was painful,

We felt so all alone.

But every step got closer,

To what we knew was right,

What our people taught us,

‘Bout darkness and the light.

Yonder in the distance,

There is the old home place,

And look, someone is coming,

We cannot see his face.

It can’t be, yes, it’s daddy,

You know the way he rides,

His posture is amazing,

And with him nothing hides.

And now he’s off his pony,

And running close, you see,

And I fall down before him,

But he still knows it’s me.

And without one stern answer,

Or judgment dark and mean,

He hugs me to him tightly,

His body strong and lean.

And then the party’s started,

The barbecue begins,

The family all have gathered,

As well as all our friends.

Because of one lost sinner,

Once dead and now set free,

Gone, but not forever,

Once blind, but now I see.

“He was lost, but now he is found. So the party began…” (Luke 15:24, NLT)

The party was never meant to celebrate anything but repentance. What is repentance exactly? Turning back to God from sin, pure and simple. Not just love, compassion, forgiveness, mercy and all the rest, but repentance. The prodigal came home, and the party began. The party can’t begin unless someone comes home. When they do it means they’ve returned from the pigsty and come home to what is right. If you don’t repent, you can’t have the party. If you do, you can have all of it and more. And repentance is really where the party is! The party the world has is not real. It is full of emptiness, disaster, destruction and shame. It’s for the dying, not the living. The devil is a party-pooper. Come home to the party. Invite others to come, too.

Lord, help us to repent and come home to real party, in Jesus’ name.

Art by Don Weller, donweller.com. Used by permission. Thanks, Don, and God bless you.