daily java

Daily Java:

Then the Lord raised up Hadad the Edomite, a member of Edom’s royal family, to be Solomon’s adversary. Years before, David had defeated Edom. Joab, his army commander, had stayed to bury some of the Israelite soldiers who had died in battle. While there, they killed every male in Edom. Joab and the army of Israel had stayed there for six months, killing them. But Hadad and a few of his father’s royal officials escaped and headed for Egypt. (Hadad was just a boy at the time.) They set out from Midian and went to Paran, where others joined them. Then they traveled to Egypt and went to Pharaoh, who gave them a home, food, and some land. Pharaoh grew very fond of Hadad, and he gave him his wife’s sister in marriage—the sister of Queen Tahpenes. She bore him a son named Genubath. Tahpenes raised him in Pharaoh’s palace among Pharaoh’s own sons. When the news reached Hadad in Egypt that David and his commander Joab were both dead, he said to Pharaoh, “Let me return to my own country.”  “Why?” Pharaoh asked him. “What do you lack here that makes you want to go home?” “Nothing,” he replied. “But even so, please let me return home.” (1 Kings 11:14-22)

There is within me a strong desire to go home.  As I get older, the desire gets stronger.

I want to go home.

But where is home?

My parents have long since moved from where I was raised and where they live is not  home. Texas is most like home to me, but Texas is also a big place. Where in Texas is home?

I have a strong affinity for Houston and Texas City. Both of us were raised in the  general Houston area, so that is a lot like home. Texas City, where I graduated high school, is also very home feeling to me, especially from 800 or 900 miles away. But it is also some of the hottest country in the world.

Boonville was where we came back to from Lincoln when my professional world fell apart. They have accepted us and loved us. I even have a following as such as a teacher here. But yet there are none of my kin here. We live in an apartment with no job.

But this is where we came with my tail between my legs.

I feel like Hadad in this passage. Even though he had never been home in Edom to speak of (he was just a boy when he left), he felt the strong desire to go home. Pharoah, the king of Egypt, liked him and even asked him what he could get at home that he could not find there in Egypt where he was among friends.

Hadad had no answer. It was just that Edom was home and Hadad wanted to return home.

I want to go home and I don’t even know for sure where home is. I need some money and a car that would make the trip and time to do it and all and just drive back to Texas and see if home hits me anywhere.