Just thinking of stepping on shore

(sorry for delay--new article tomorrow)

A tune I liked as a kid, written by Kenny Loggins, was about him being in New York and missing home at the holidays.

One stanza:

Please, celebrate me home,
Give me a number,
Please, celebrate me home
Play me one more song,
That I'll always remember,
I can recall,
Whenever I find myself too all alone,
I can make believe I've never gone,
I never know where I belong,
Sing me home.

In the hymn category, there are many classic verses about having a home in heaven to dwell with God. It was obviously a major theme in the hearts and minds of the hymn writers. John W. Peterson writes in his song, "I've a Home Beyond the River":

O, the blessed contemplation

when with trouble here I sigh,

I've a home beyond the river

that I'll enter by and by.

 

Chorus:

I've a home beyond the river,

I've a mansion bright and fair.

I've a home beyond the river,

I will dwell with Jesus there.

The all-time great hymn on home, "Finally Home," was written by Don Wyrtzen: 

(1)     When alarmed by the fury of the restless sea,

Towering waves before you roll,

At the end of doubt and peril is eternity,

Though fear and conflict seize your soul

Just think of stepping on shore, and finding it heaven

Of touching a hand, and finding it God's

Of breathing new air, and finding it celestial

Of waking up in Glory, and finding it "Home"

(2)     When surrounded by the blackness of the darkest night,

Oh how lonely death can be,

At the end this long tunnel is a shining light,

For death is swallowed-up in Victory, (Victory!)

Just think of stepping on shore, and finding it heaven

Of touching a hand, and finding it God's

Of breathing new air, and finding it celestial

Of waking up in Glory, and finding it "Home"

Finally Home!  

Paul assures Believers in Ephesians 2: [19] Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;

[20] And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
[21] In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
[22] In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

Paul says in II Corinthians 5, [1] For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

[2] For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:
[3] If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked.

[4] For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.