When Home Isn’t Home

This week, I write from a comfortable yet foreign place—a hotel suite.

Our house is under siege from repairs after a water leak. Floors we loved were torn out. Walls cut open to chase down hidden asbestos. The noise of workmen replaces the quiet rhythms of home.

Yes, the hotel is nice. The breakfasts are free and served in a beautiful setting. But no matter how comfortable it is, it isn’t home. Something deep inside still aches for that familiar place of belonging.

And that longing connects me with so many in Scripture who also lived as strangers.

• Abraham left behind the family homestead to follow God into an unknown land, wandering in tents, a nomad with only promises to hold onto.
• Moses fled the Egypt of his birth and spent years as a shepherd in a foreign land—until God called him to lead His people toward a home they had never seen.
• Peter reminded early Christians why they felt out of place: because they were pilgrims, strangers in this world, longing for their true home with God.

The old gospel song echoes their testimony:

“This world is not my home, I’m just a passin’ through.”

And that truth is strangely comforting. If life feels unsettled—if even the nicest hotel or the coziest house sometimes doesn’t feel like “home”—that’s not a mistake. It’s a reminder.

This world is temporary. The stay is short. The destination lies ahead.

So don’t get too comfortable. Don’t plant your roots too deeply.

We are travelers on the way to a better home.

Keep walking, pilgrim.

Home is coming.