Published on 09/4/2008

"Home" is one of the most powerful and magnetic emotions in life.

The national news media are dominated today by discussions of last night's Republican Convention, where Rudy Giuliani and Gov. Sarah Palin gave rousing, much-applauded prime-time speeches. Tonight Sen. McCain accepts his party's nomination for president, and the sprint to November 4 begins in earnest.

Meanwhile, a journey of another kind is unfolding here in Texas and points east. As today's New York Times reports, more than two million people evacuated the Gulf Coast in advance of Hurricane Gustav. Yesterday, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin ordered an immediate lifting of barriers to their return. While much of the city and state are still without electric power, people are getting back to their homes as quickly as they can. Many were running out of money for hotels, sleeping in their cars or under bridges and overpasses. Many were hungry. More than 80,000 remain in shelters across Louisiana and the region. All want to go home.

You know the feeling. Think back to the last time you took an extended trip. Remember the feeling of familiarity which came over you as you made your way ever closer to home? The sense that you were where you belonged, that all was well again?

"Home" is one of the most powerful and magnetic emotions in life. That's why the presidential candidates are trying as hard as they can to make us feel "at home" with them. They want us to see them as "hometown" Americans. They champion "down home" values and promise to defend our "homeland" at all costs. If home is where the heart is, it's also true that the heart is where home is.

And yet there's a quiet, almost wordless sense in our souls that we're not home yet. No matter how safe or familiar our homes feel, they're not safe or familiar enough. You've seen a spectacular sunset and longed for something more. You've heard a great symphony or read a masterpiece and felt that this is not all there is.

As usual, C. S. Lewis says it better than I can: "The settled happiness and security which we all desire, God withholds from us by the very nature of the world: but joy, pleasure, and merriment He has scattered broadcast. The security we crave would teach us to rest our hearts in this world and pose an obstacle to our return to God. Our Father refreshes us on the journey with some pleasant inns, but will not encourage us to mistake them for home."

Whatever happens to you today, remember that this world is the journey, not the destination. You're one day closer to home than you've ever been. Are you ready?