Working at the pool and at the church, I am surrounded
by kids for the majority of my time. With swimming lessons in the morning, open
swim throughout the day, and church a few times a week, I spend more time with
little people and teenagers than I do with anybody my own age. I’m not
complaining by any means. I love these kids! With school out for the summer,
I’ve had the time to get to know all kinds of kids from all kinds of
backgrounds. One day, I was sitting on the lifeguard chair scanning the pool
and watching some of these kids that I get such a kick out of. I caught myself
thinking, “I wish I could just take them home with me”. Of course, that could
never be possible because I live in a studio-style house that barely fits me
and all my junk. The teenagers lovingly call it my “Barbie-doll house”. (A term
coined by Marcus if I remember right.) But, some of these kids that come to the
pool come from less-than-healthy homes and my heart just breaks for them. So,
as I was on the guard chair contemplating accommodations for all these kids in
my “Barbie-doll house”, I thought about what I said. “I wish I could take them
home with me.” As Christians, this world is not our home. And as much as I love
it, my “Barbie-doll house” is not my home. Our true home is with the Lord (2
Corinthians 5:8). So, instead of thinking about having a huge house with a
million bedrooms for all of the kids I would gladly take home with me and care
for, I should be thinking of what I can do to bring them to the Lord. I should
be inviting them to church and introducing them to Jesus. That way, eventually,
they will be going home with me. Not to a temporary Barbie-doll home that won’t
survive the destruction from rust and moths (Matthew 6:19-20),
but to an eternal home where rust and moths cannot destroy: a glorious,
wonderful home with our Savior
