Just Where is Home?

       While I was in the U. S. Navy for 9 years, I was not that fond of the ocean, nor was I that fond of living on a ship that was 300 feet long, about 30 feet wide and about 30 feet deep.  The captain once told one of our seasick band members that "we were never more than a mile from land, straight down."  As I would walk out on deck I could see nothing but blue water all around me.  I would sometimes think, "I hope someone knows where we are."  It was amazing when some mornings when I would wake up, that land could be seen in the distance.  We were arriving somewhere.   Ecclesiastes 12:7 says, " Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." 
       Ecclesiastes 12:1-8 used to be in the sophmore literature book and was required to be memorized and recited in class which I did.  I didn't understand the impact of that section of Scripture until the last 20 years of my life.  It is a description of the process of aging.  What is the most interesting for me is verse 7 which describes the process of death.  The body, so the verse says, returns to the earth.  The chemical composition of bone and flesh deteriorates and goes back to be mixed with the earth, "But, the spirit returns to God Who gave it."  That has to be a comfort to each and everyone of us.  It is comforting to know that Someone, in this case, God, knows where we are going.  He knows the place of arrival.  The older you get, the closer you are to home.  Life's journey can take us to many different places and we can have many different experiences on the way, but in the end, we will be arriving to the place where it all began.  So, what is your spirit?  It is that which makes you the type of person that you are.  Each one of us are different in so many ways.  Well, we might have the same number of eyes, ears, arms and other body parts, but the spirit is different in fact unique.  There is no one like you.  While you have the same number of parts, your make up is again unique.  There is no other DNA like yours.  Some might be close but not identical.  You may well ask the question, "Does anyone know where I am going and why I am here?"  The answer is "yes."  God knows your destination because He has your course plotted and someday you will be with Him. For believers, it is a comfort because we will be spending that eternity with God in a place called, "heaven."  Praise God today for His comfort, protection and guidance in this life.