Already Called Home

When Sergeant Maria Reyes received her reassignment orders at Forward Operating Base Salerno in Afghanistan, everything looked the same — the dust, the heat, the concrete barriers. She still wore the same uniform, still walked the same gravel paths to the mess hall. But something fundamental had shifted. She was going home.

Her bunkmate noticed it first. Maria started talking about her daughter's upcoming birthday, about the lemon tree in her backyard in San Antonio, about Sunday mornings at her grandmother's church. She was still physically present in a combat zone, but her heart had already crossed the ocean.

That is exactly what Paul describes in Colossians 3. You have been raised with Christ. The orders have come through. Your transfer is signed and sealed, even if your boots are still on foreign ground. So set your minds on things above — not because earthly life doesn't matter, but because you already belong somewhere else.

Your life, Paul says, is hidden with Christ in God — tucked safely away, as certain as reassignment orders bearing the commander's signature. The world cannot see what God has already declared true about you. And when Christ appears, when that final homecoming arrives, you will appear with Him in glory. Every longing you have carried, every homesick prayer whispered in the dark, will find its answer.

Until then, like Maria, live as someone who knows where she is headed. Let that homecoming shape how you walk through today.