What Makes a Home for You
As some of you know, I traveled to South Korea for the month of September to visit my family. And it is very interesting to think that I have two countries that I call home: South Korea where I was born and raised, where my family is now, and here in Connecticut. The day before my flight to the States, my dad said, “It’s almost time that you return to your home.” And now I am back in Shelton, CT, and it truly felt like home. My trip to Korea made me ponder upon the meaning of home: what makes home ‘home’.
My family left our home country to find a new home. When we first settled in Connecticut, in Fairfield, everything was foreign to us: the language, people, culture, and even the smell. Not knowing the language and culture, we struggled almost in every aspect of our life, from buying a car, driving from one place to another, paying bills, ordering food, making friends, and so forth.
Then, we moved to Easton, CT, our second home in the States. And I went to school at UConn, Drew, and Princeton. My family moved to Long Island and lived there for over 10 years, and now they moved back to Korea. Now, I’m Connecticut all by myself.
So throughout my life, I have had many homes. I have a home associated with my parents. I have another home associated with my profession. I have another home associated with my education. I can’t just name one geographical place. I have to explain my life story. My nationality doesn’t answer the question neither the place I live. So I came to ponder upon this question: What makes it a home for me? Is it a place I come from? Is it a house that I’m living in?
Out of many homes I had, have, and will have, what makes a home for me is love. Living in a foreign country gave me many moments soaked in tears and red with fury. I felt I didn’t belong here and thought I would not survive. But my family kept the tragedy at bay until I could breathe calmly once again. My family did not have all the answers but they promised me that God will take care of us. My family held each other through the nights and promised each other that we have to trust God. Ever since then, it became just a little easier to keep catastrophic dread at bay. They taught me a valuable lesson of home: How things can go very wrong and yet can be fixed, how resilient a family can be, how many second chances there are when love is involved, and how strong we can become when we trust in God.
Once we define home like this, a strange thing can happen: we realize we don’t have to restrict the concept of home to its basic biological or geographical limits. In reality, anyone who takes a deeply supportive, loving attitude towards us is automatically, in an extended sense, part of your home or your family. And we in our turn become a family member to anyone we treat in this reliably generous way.
That is why the highest command from God remains stunningly simple: to strive to treat all of humankind as if they were what they in fact already really are: members of one enormous family.
You are my home and you are my family. God is good and gracious for bringing me here to give me another family that is so loving and caring. Jesus redefines the concept of family so that everyone, especially those who have no home and no family, can have a place to call home, and people to call their family. When we celebrate and rejoice together, there is a greater joy and happiness. When we suffer together and offer ourselves for help, there is healing. When we walk together and work together, there is nourishment and growth.
You showed me what a Christian home looks like. You showed me what a Christian family looks like and what Christian love feels like. It is my sincere prayer that love overflows from our church, home and family for many, onto others, bringing them to the love of God. I give thanks to God for all of you for helping me feel at home in Shelton, CT. May God’s everlasting love be known in this place.
Yours in Christ,
Jacob Eun
