Home (less) for Him

"Do not let your heart be troubled..." (John 14:1 NASB)

After making the transition from a 1-bedroom apartment to the top bunk in a dorm room of a local homeless shelter, I rested in these words of Jesus. I felt like crying -- though in a room with fifteen other men a part of me shamed my heart into silence. The tears, though, wanted birth because I knew the Lord to be truthful. "...believe in God," Christ went on to say, "believe also in me." (v. 1)

What, as a man, do you believe?

I believe that God is fathering me at this point in my life, taking me back to past wounds -- even old places (you see, I've been to this particular shelter twice before in the last 10 years) -- in order to show me the depths of His love, grace, and mercy. I believe that He is taking me on the adventure of a lifetime (and eternity) in order to find the heart He redeemed. Isn't that what a little boy wants from his father -- someone to love him, teach him, protect him, and share the amazing story of growing up together? I believe this adventure can't be found sitting at home (or even sitting in church) -- I must be willing to trust the Lord with all my heart and be home less for Him.

"In my Father's house," Jesus told His disciples in the Gospel of John, "are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you." (John 14:2 NASB)

I believe that the place Christ has gone to prepare for me is a paramount reason I should be home less for Him. At the shelter this morning, one of the men I had just met the night before came up to me while I was sitting alone.

"You like the Bible?" he asked.

I smiled, knowing he had listened to me speaking with another man at the shelter (who is a Christian) about a passage in Paul's Letter to the Romans.

"Yes," I said.

"Would you like to talk sometime about certain passages?"

"Of course," I replied, once again knowing that the Lord was preparing a place for me -- with this particular circumstance, space within the shelter to speak to others about God's Word.

It's like men's work. My connection to The ManKind Project™ (http://www.mkpky.org/) also challenges me to be home less for Him. As a man with a Mission (to make manifest the glory of God by serving others with grace, mercy, love, and forgiveness), I seek to connect with my peers in engaging men's hearts and participating in the real time battle of masculine initiation with the goal of changing the world one man at a time.

Recently, I had the privilege and honor of being a Man of Service for the staff of a New Warrior Training Adventure™, a 3-day experiential weekend designed to challenge men to look deeply at who they are and how they consciously (and unconsciously) make life choices. I believe God used this blessing to have me pour out my heart in service because He is ready to pour in an amazing flow of new opportunity into my life -- which is now, as a believer, His home.

I want to be home less for Him. I believe to live out my Mission, I must take the risk each day to go into the work He opens before me. Even as I struggle in my sixth month of unemployment, the eyes of my heart are being opened to His preparation of new places for me to call home.

I want to go home to sub-Saharan Africa to mentor young boys left as orphans when their parents died due to the AIDS epidemic...

I want to go home to the Amazon River Basin and spend time with the villagers that my local church has been ministering to for years...

I want to build a new home from an old building my church owns, turning it into a healing refuge for those seeking freedom from addiction and a new life with Jesus...

And as this journey continues, I want to be homeless for Him -- and invite others to find their home in Him!