Cornerstone TeleVision Blog

Jean and I watched an episode of The Waltons recently.  (If you don't know who the Waltons are, just say “Good night, Elizabeth,” to anyone who grew up in the 70’s and ask them to explain it to you.) Anyway, there was a carnival in town and through a series of circumstances four of the performers ended up staying in the Walton’s barn for a while, waiting for their next job opportunity. The Waltons had them to dinner and John-boy listen in dreamy rapture as they spoke of all the incredible places they had visited around the world. In his 17-year-old mind it was the stuff of legend and he wanted so much to be on the road and seeing all that they had seen, escaping the loving but plain life he had known on Walton’s Mountain.

Later, one of the performers, a beautiful high-wire aerialist, confided to Mrs. Walton, how much she envied her and her stable family life. She had enjoyed her long life on the road, but she imagined aloud how wonderful it must be to have a regular place to go home to every night, to sleep in the same bed every night.

There is something that speaks to each Christian in the heart of John-boy. We long for adventure. We were created to do great things, to be involved in the work of God.  Our heart longs to see people healed and saved and changed.  With anticipation we pray that we might see the miracles of God. He calls us to literally go to the ends of the earth (have you been there?). And he invites us to the greatest adventure of all: to sit at his feet and learn from him.  We were made for adventure.

And yet there is a greater longing in us, one of which the diva spoke. We long for home. Not only the stable family environment that so many lack these days, but a deeper calling to an eternal home.  We are from another place and we were made for another place. We are “citizens of heaven” and we yearn to be with our Lord in the celestial city. Neither the hominess of Walton’s Mountain nor the lights of Paris can compare to that true home.