"It's time to go home."

 I had been in my job for several years and didn’t want it  to end.  Traveling around the country on business and seeing the most incredible cities.  Every year I was able to see the hit broadway productions and eat at the best restaurants.  I was being mentored by one of my industries leading icons, learning so much and enjoying every minute.  One morning  I was in my office working on a project and it happened again… I heard that same voice.  “Its time to go home”.  Man! you get that, God is talking to me again!  There’s no question that we’re loved!  

Now you need to understand I’m not a spur of the moment kind of guy.  I need to think things out for a while and basically talk myself into or out of what ever the situation is, but there was that peace again, no fear, no questioning.  That morning I stopped everything and walked up to our division’s administrative assistant  and asked to see the boss.  She looked up at me and said… “You’re leaving aren’t you?”  Really, where did that come from?   I don’t think I answered her.  She walked me into his office and shut the door behind me.  This man was intimidating and powerful!  I stood at the door until he acknowledged me.  He sat behind a huge desk that was planted in front of a 30’ floor to ceiling window that looked over the city, it was incredible!  As professional and important as he was, he was a proud family man.  He had invited me to his home several times for dinner with his family.  He asked me to have a seat, so I took a deep breath and began to tell him how much I’ve cherished my job and how I appreciated him taking me under his wing and teaching me so much about the business, but I felt it was time to give my 2 weeks notice.  It was time for me to go home.  He didn’t say a thing, he just sat there staring at me and then said, go to your office and shut the door and don’t talk to anyone. Oh man!  I did  just that, it seemed like 74 hours but eventually he came into my office and shut the door behind him and said he wouldn’t accept my resignation and he was transferring me to a store in my home town.  He told me that he didn’t want me to lose the investment I had in the company.  So I was off… again.

As I was packing and getting ready for the trip home, all I thought about was my family and how much I missed them, and what they had done for me.  I had a great idea, why not ask my mother to come and drive back home with me.  She’d never been on a plane or really ever been away from her family since the three of us kids were born except for moving here with her family from Scotland, but that doesn’t count she was only six.   So we planned our excursion home.  I can remember as we drove up to our family house,  my father standing out on the lawn waving frantically.  It was great to be home, I’d been gone for such a long time and really didn’t realize until then just how much I missed this life. God had sent me home and all was well, it was so wonderful to be with my sisters again.  Granted I did come home for weddings and most Christmases but to be home and a part of the family unit again was priceless!  I’m living proof that the old adage “you can never go home” is crazy!!

My new job was working out great,  I think it was a bit difficult for my new boss to get used to giving me direction when l was the author of corporate directives less that a month earlier.   I had met a coworker that shared my faith so we became close friends.  He introduced me to a church that was all new to me,  a  faith based church.  I was floored, the Bible wasn’t a history book or something just to read but to live!  I felt completely at home the very first visit. It’s there I grew in my faith.

Being home fit like a glove.  I was part of our family again, to be needed and helpful.  I was happy, just like when I was growing up.  I can’t explain how incredible it was to be with my sis and take care of her and love her.  My youngest sister married her high school sweetheart and has 3 unbelievable kids and  I got to become their “UNC” in person and not long distance. I love my family!!

I remember when I first heard those words “you’re on your journey home”, I truly thought my journey was to come back home and reunite with my family, to help take care of my sister as my parents grew older. It gave my youngest sister the opportunity to focus  more on her family just like we planned on the driveway before I left.  I had a full rich life and it felt right. 

There was a time that I actually believed that this was the reason I was put on this earth.  As time passed and my parents and sister went to be with the Lord, I began to find myself on many nights wondering  if that journey I was told I was on had run its course.  I began to feel a emptiness that I’d never felt before. 

Was I played out and my purpose on this earth cashed in with the care of my family?