No Place Like Home

It is so strange how I navigate in a mental world that is quite different from the actual one. I re-read my last post and noticed several lines that demonstrate this:

"I will need to clear a little space for it on top of my bookshelf" - I don't currently possess a bookshelf. I have a two-level shelf with books on it, but I don't think it qualifies. It's too narrow and too low. It's more of a nightstand. If someone were to theoretically give me a snowglobe (and I'm pretty sure they don't even exist here), I would probably put it on my dresser instead. But in my theoretical world, I own an actual bookshelf onto which I could put my theoretical snowglobe.

"If somebody just dropped the box on my doorstep"... It would probably be picked up by one of my neighbors! I am living in an apartment building. Our "doorstep" belongs to everyone in the building.

" if the owner of a bicycle shop puts the bike on my porch..." My apartment building doesn't really have a porch. When I wrote this, as well as the line above, I was imagining the "typical" American house with a front porch. Not only do I not live in one now, I never have! Why do I write this way, then? To a certain degree I am just using figures of speech that are established in the (American) English language. To another extent I think I am instinctively trying to identify with "my" culture, without really knowing what "my" culture is. I have left it behind, in a certain sense, but yet I still carry it around with me and probably always will. So far, despite two years overseas, American life is still my idea of "typical." We'll see how long that lasts.

One thing I know, and I am increasingly grateful for it, is that God is constant. His nature is constant, His love is constant, His righteousness is constant, His justice is constant, and His kingdom values do not change. David did a lot of wandering, but I think he realized that when he was in God's presence he was always home. That is why He wrote "Better is one day in your courts than thousands elsewhere." (Psalm 84:10)