Bowling Green is a small town in southern-central Kentucky and home to approximately 60,000 residents. This meager, cozy town has been my home for the past eighteen years, but like many high school graduates, this charming, splendid, and pleasant town will soon not be where I reside. Early Tuesday morning, and by early I mean 8AM, I will pull out of my driveway, get onto I-65, and travel 199 miles away from “home.” This day, as many incoming freshman know, has come with innumerable emotions: excitement, anxiety, stress, panic, and maybe even slight sorrow. However, whatever the emotion, we will all move into our “home away from home” in less than a week.
Although our homes may no longer be where we “hang our hats,” we have a wonderful new chapter of our lives to begin. This new chapter of our story may begin in a foreign place for a few people; therefore, causing us to have to build a new “home” and find our “family away from family.” My family has undoubtedly been my rock my entire life, which is why moving away from this meager town is extremely distressing. I have lived with my grandparents since I was born and am extremely grateful for all they have given up for me, but thinking about not seeing them every day is something I have tried to block out of the forefront of my mind. The closer August 16th becomes, the more emotions I begin to develop as I am sure many can relate to. However, as I began to stress and panic, I was reminded of a promise that may be of comfort to some who are as nervous and anxious as I am.
As we all prepare to soar into our first year of college and create our dorm rooms into the cutest and comfiest “homes away from home,” let us not lose sight of a promise that should provide us contentment in this time of transition. John 14:2-4 states, “My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” Isn't this so encouraging?! Jesus left His home in Heaven, came to earth, died for you and me, and then went back to His home to prepare it for us! Like anyone, I love my home, but as I hope most of Freed-Hardeman’s incoming freshman are, I am elated to make this my “home away from home” in just seventy-two short hours. I pray that as we journey to an unfamiliar place, we do not let this hinder the way we radiate God’s love for us. To all the incoming freshman like myself, “Welcome home."