Finding my home

I can't decide if I hate airports or love them. They certainly give me mixed feelings.

I hate them because things are bound to not go according to plan. You have to plan on your plan not working out. This past week I spent 7 hours in the Hong Kong airport unexpectantly because I missed my connecting flight by only minutes. My flight from Bangkok to Hong Kong got delayed a couple of hours and I got into Hong Kong around 4 pm. My flight was supposed to take off at 4:15 pm but instead I got booked on the 11:30 pm flight from Hong Kong to LA.

As I sat in the Hong Kong airport I had a long time to think about airports. I sat there looking around and realized nothing about the airport made me feel like I was in Hong Kong. Perhaps that is what I love about them- airports seem country-less. Yes, there are slight differences between the LA airport versus Jakarta. But for the most part they remain constant, indistinguishable. In all airports you find people wandering around aimlessly; people looking lost and staring at signs that point them in the direction they need to go; and people running to their gate barely making it in time before their plane takes off, like in the movies. There are announcements going off overhead in various languages, but invariably also in English. And the more I fly the more I come to know what to expect in the airport.

Perhaps that is what I love- the consistency that I find. But I think I also have come to love this sense of being in a place that feels country-less.

As I sat there I felt more aware than ever that I was sitting in between two worlds. Two very different worlds, both of which have made their way into my heart. The world of the east that I was coming from... a world of adventure, challenge, and friendships. The place where I recently set up my new home and spent the last year learning to adjust to. The world of the west that I was going to... where I find my roots, my family and friends. The place that I will always consider home and where I find solace.

But then I am reminded of the verse from 1 Peter 2 that says "Friends this world is not your home, so don't make yourself cozy in it." Sitting in the airport that day I did not feel cozy. I felt tired and just wanted to go home. But I gained a new understanding that nowhere on this earth is my home and that is just as it should be. My citizenship is in heaven and that is where my heart should belong and feel at rest.