"Home"

Lately I have been doing a lot of thinking about the word "home". I know what comes to my mind when I think of our home. I know that I love our home and I love being home. It is a place where I feel comfortable to be myself. It is a place that I can share with family and friends. It is a place where I can be safe, escape from the pressure of the world and recharge. It is a place where I can nurture myself both physically and emotionally. It can sometimes be frustrating to maintain a home, especially when something breaks or needs to be repaired, or when it seems that something always needs to be cleaned; however, even when things aren't perfect it still feels really good to be at home. Ed travels a lot for his work and he always tells me how much he can't wait to get home. I know without a doubt that Ed and I would not be able to handle all of our responsibilities without the opportunity to be at home and recharge. When ever we are gone away from home for a while, especially after working, there is nothing like walking through the door into our home and inevitably one of us will say "it sure feels good to be home".  I can't think of the word "home" without thinking about the word "homeless".  To be homeless not only means that you have to sleep on the street, in a shelter or in a car, but it also means that you don't have a place where you can be comfortable to be yourself.  Being homeless means that you do not have a place where you can recharge. You don't have a place where you feel safe. You don't have a place where you can nurture yourself and nurture your loved ones. It means that you don't have a place that you look forward to going to at the end of a hard day.  When I think of how much "home" means to me it makes me want to cry when I realize that there are literally thousands of young adults who have no idea what "home" means.  Obviously God feels burdened for the homeless as well because He has called us to do something to help these young adults.  God has called us to create a home for homeless young adults in Colorado through Soaring Wings Ministries.  There are many times when it makes me sad to think of leaving our comfortable home in beautiful New Hampshire, leaving family, friends and the East Coast to head out west to Colorado because in the leaving we will be "homeless" for a while until we can establish a new home in Colorado. But, my sadness only stays with me for a few brief moments because the joy comes when I realize that a homeless young adult will have the opportunity to truly experience what having a "home" means. I have had a warm, caring home all my life and I will gladly give up what I treasure so that someone else can also know "home". For possibly the first time in their lives a homeless young adult will have the opportunity to know how great being at "home" can be.

Through Soaring Wings Ministries we will create a home for homeless young adults.  Our goal is to provide each homeless young adult or family with a cabin of their own.  Each cabin would consist of a small bedroom, bathroom, and living area.  These cabins will be their "home".  It will be their place where they can go to nurture themselves, It will be a place that they can decorate as they wish, a place where they can go to recharge, a place where they will be safe and hopefully after a hard day when they open the door to their cabin they can say what Ed and I have said so many times in our lives...."it sure feels good to be home".

His joyful servant,
Anita Rennells