“Baseball begins and ends at home. Home is where the batter begins his pilgrimage, his journey around the bases in search of success. It is to home that he returns in triumph.”

 

– From Parables from the Diamond by P. Christopher & G. Dromgoole

 

Whether you are an avid baseball fan or just an occasional viewer, chances are you’ve seen the jubilant celebration of a player who crosses home plate after hitting the winning home run. It’s usually made even sweeter when teammates join in the celebration – making it, for that moment, a version of “home sweet home!”

 

In baseball, a successful journey begins and ends at “home.” The same could be said of life’s journey. We begin our life in a home, as did a young man Jesus spoke of in Luke 15: 11-32.

 

This young man had, by all accounts, a wonderful life at home – he had a family who loved him and he had all the advantages of a successful upbringing. But the young man decided he had “matured” to the point that he was smarter than his father. So the young man told his father that he wanted his inheritance money so he could go off to be on his own – that he could handle life more successfully on his own. His father loved the young son, so reluctantly gave him what he asked for.

 

The young son set off for what he thought were greener pastures, and he lived high on the hog, for a season. But the young son soon realized he had spent all his inheritance money and was forced to beg for work. He got a job on a pig farm – not living high on the hog any longer, but quite the opposite. The pigs he was tending were eating better than he was! His desperate situation got his attention. He realized the grass is not always greener on the other side.

 

The young son came to his senses, opened his eyes to his situation and decided, there’s no place like home! So the young son began his journey back home. It was a long journey, as he realized just how far away he had wandered. How would his father receive him?

 

The young son had a lot of time to think as he was returning home, so he began to develop what he would say to his father – including how he would apologize and admit his wrong. Little did the young son know that his father had never stopped hoping his young son would return. The father had kept watch every day, hoping to see his young son returning home. As the young son rounded the corner near his home, the father spotted him, and ran out to embrace him and welcome the young son back home! The young son began to confess to his father and ask his forgiveness. The father joyfully accepted him back and even had a huge celebration immediately prepared to welcome the young prodigal son back home!

 

We can each relate to the story of the prodigal son. Most of us have either walked some of it ourselves, or have raised a prodigal child. It is not a sin to have rebelled against our Heavenly Father – to have thought we knew better, that the grass was greener in other pastures. But it is sin – and just plain stupid – to realize you are living a life your Heavenly Father never intended you to live, and yet not return home to Him. Our Father is watching and waiting for your return with open arms. And if you were a prodigal in younger years (as I once was) and you have returned to our Heavenly Father, the best news is we still get one more great celebration when one day we each see our Heavenly Father in our eternal Home!

 

Then we will truly be safe at home!