By Father Garrett Braun
From Fields Afar
As I write these words, I am reflecting on the fact that this time next week, I’ll be coming home. To me it is a great blessing in my military service. No matter where this calling within a calling takes me, I can also fall back on the stability that comes from belonging to a diocese that also coincides with where I grew up and where my parents also call home. The Diocese of Evansville is home, and as we know well, “there’s no place like home!” I have found with some regularity however, that this is not the case for many folks serving in the military.
A common reason, or at least a common denominator, for some folks to enlist in the military is because they grew up in it. That usually means they grew up not in one place, but in many places. And even for those who did not grow up as “military brats,” many who have served for upward of or over 15 years find that they don’t have a set place to call home.
Just one example is a conversation I recently had with a Senior Master Sergeant in the Air Force. After 20 years of service, she is eligible for a full retirement and is beginning to contemplate retiring from the Air Force. Knowing that she might not have a set home or place to go back to, I asked, “Do you have a set home base to go back to?” She explained that she didn’t but was interested in somewhere on the east coast that would be close to where her siblings are living. It’s still amazing to me how common this kind of conversation occurs, particularly among those who have been serving for many years.
I also think there is a lesson to be gained by us who do claim a home that is a place of comfort, assurance and safety. It’s true there may be no place like home, but I believe we are called to remember that we are never fully at home in this life. We are called to a heavenly homeland that is even better than southern Indiana. This of course is the promised land of our heavenly home.
Philippians 3:20 says, “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we also await the savior, our Lord Jesus Christ.” Recognizing that we are not fully at home means that we are ready to go where the LORD calls us, to take on new challenges and get out of our comfort zones for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven.