Homecoming.

It is so encouraging to see good news come out of Haiti. One of those stories came out of Oregon, when a team of women who went over on a missions trip to distribute clothes and toys to the children of Haiti. After the earthquake hit, they had quite a journey home.

But they are home. They are safe. And they are friends of my friend Jen, who posted this video of them arriving of them at the airport (on Facebook.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QOPJl-nzKM

When I watched the homecoming in the airport, my eyes were filled with tears. The expectation of the families waiting. Listening to children say, "I can't wait to see mommy." Watching the first woman run in as her kids were running to her at the same time. Tears, laughter, hugs, shouts of joy... it was all so beautiful.

And as I thought of their journey home, I started to think of it in terms of our journey home to God. For some of us, we make the decision to follow Christ. Life is relatively easy. We stay on the right path and we make it home.

For others, we choose to ignore truth for too long, and struggle all through life before we find Christ. Or perhaps, we meet Christ early on in life, and then fall away. We struggle trying to make it on our own...and then like the prodigal son, we return to Him. This particular sort of journey parallels so well with the women returning from Haiti. Their journey was difficult, from the earthquake, to the loss of family contact, to the attempts to leave the country, and the actual trip home... And as the woman said at the end of the video, "never have I longed so much for America..." I'm certain her family/loved ones felt the same way.

I can only imagine God...waiting for us in heaven (already fully aware of whether our journey will be an easy one or a difficult one)...ready to run to us with arms wide open, and welcome His children home.