When the Great Smoky Mountains park was established, many people were forced to move from their homes and leave them. The park saved some and people can see them in many parts of the park today. These homes help us see what it was like to live in a home in past times before the park.
Every time I visit Cades Cove I am drawn to the homes that are there. I try to imagine what it was like to live in those cabins. They are only the structures now, but once they were filled with life - furniture and clothes and maybe a book or paper. I wonder what it was like to come and go through those doors and look through those windows at God's beauty.
We all search for home. We need shelter, but we want more then a house. We want a place to love family, to be quiet, to laugh and play. It is hard to loose a home, even when we move to a better house or a new place and are excited about the move. The memories of the old home are still there. There are things about the old place we will miss.
Today my Bible reading was in John 14. This chapter is part of the last conversation that Jesus would have with his disciples before the cross. He had just told them that he was going to a place where they could not go and that Peter would disown him 3 times. These must have been hard words for them to hear. And so he begins John 14:1
Your heart must not be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if not I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you.
Jesus answered, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him."
If you are searching for home, if you are grieving a lost home, then take comfort for Jesus will come and make a home with you and he promises a home with him forever.