By Dr. Barry Thornton

One of my favorite reality TV series is “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.” Ty Pennington and his crew select a family whose home has been determined to be unfit or inadequate for occupation. To the family’s surprise, they are told that in one week their home is going to be transformed into a “home beyond their wildest dreams and expectations.” 

Swept away to a distant location, the family waits in anticipation for their new home. The crew works feverishly to create just the right home—a brand new dwelling, but with a flair. 

At the end of the week, family members are brought home, positioned behind a bus where they eagerly await the revealing of their new home. With one mighty, “Bus driver, move that bus!” the bus pulls away, as overwhelming emotions burst forth, revealing a home beyond their wildest imaginations! 

After each room is surveyed, Ty brings the family together for one last statement: “Well, I guess there’s only one thing left to say: ‘Welcome home, _____ family, welcome home!”

Hope Embraced

We look around us and the world seems to be crumbling, unfit for habitation and foreign to God’s ideals. We await the fulfillment of Paul’s promise: “We who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever” (1 Thessalonians 4:17). We long for the hope Jesus spoke about: “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me”(John 14:3).

Hope Realized

Someone said, “God may tarry, but he’s never late!” We, too, await his Son’s return, when the clouds will part and beckon us to join him in an eternal home beyond our wildest dreams! Ultimately, we hope to hear him say to us, “Welcome home, (insert your name), welcome home!” 

Dr. Barry Thornton and his wife, Janet, live in Moberly, Missouri, where he serves as director of development, instructor, and church consultant with Central Christian College of the Bible.