Home...Independence...Dependance!

You will either get this email before or after the 4th of July but either way it is good to think about all that we have to be thankful for and the freedoms we enjoy! I was 19 when I left the shores of this country for the first time to study abroad. Although it was a wonderful experience I was so glad to get home after my year of studies.  The language was the same but the culture very different, letters took a week to get there and phone calls were $1 a minute!  After John and I got married we spent 6 years in Africa working at a school for missionaries children, and those children were from 20+ different nationalities.  Far from home, out of our culture, far from family, no good phone service, no email, no internet, no imessage, no facetime...can you imagine? (Some of you remember how different the world was just 25 years ago.)  We were so thankful to come home after those years of mission service.  We flew into NY, looked down at the statue of liberty and tears welled up in our eyes...we were home!  Yet even that can not compare with the anticipation we hold in our hearts for the Home that Jesus has gone to prepare for us.  He promised to return and bring us to that home and we look forward to that day! That home will not be gained by independence but rather dependance!