Home

Home. It is a word that can take on many shapes and forms if you ask someone what it means to them. October has been an interesting time for us, me in particular, as in regards to "home".

Let me rewind a bit before I go into what the past few weeks has been like. Home for the first 22 years of my life was Rome, and all the people there. Family, Connect Rome, Berry, WinShape all made it home for me. I am firm believer that home is where the heart is and my heart was undoubtedly in Rome thanks to all the people there. That was until God brought Laura into my life. In July of 2010 my heart landed me in Orlando and, whether I liked Orlando or not, it became my home.

And so here we are, October of 2011. To start this month Laura and I traveled to Rome to spend time with family and friends. It was a great trip. Of course we didn't get to see everyone we would have liked, but all the same we saw a lot of people and had a great time. I love going back to Rome because in so many ways it will always be home to me.

Fast forward a week and I receive an e-mail from a old college professor. She tells me the Rome/Floyd YMCA is looking for a Wellness Director. Now this would be THE job I would have if I was to work a the Rome Y. Of course my mind starts spinning...

"Laura is taking all online classes this semester, maybe she can do that next semester too...we could go ahead and move back to Rome and she could finish her UCF degree there...and so on..."

I definitely spent some time romanticizing about life back in Rome. But then the thought struck me,

"If I get this job, and we move back there, what happens to all the Switzerland/Kenya plans we have been making?"

Thus we had a dilemma. Pursue this job opportunity back in Rome or forgo it? Our hearts were telling us a lot of different things. Both of us would love being back in Rome and at least being near some of our family. It is comfortable, familiar, quaint and so many other things that we love. On the other hand being overseas is such an exciting prospect. New places, new people, new food, new experiences. Where to go is the big question we have been asking ourselves since we moved here. And now we were saying

"Well God after all these crazy and exciting plans do you want us to just move back to Rome?"

We have no doubt God will lead us exactly where we are supposed to go. And we both know that sometimes He can call an audible and completely change the direction in which we are headed. We were both kind of thinking this may one of those situations. Then Laura figured out that she would be staying in Orlando till the wedding in May. Some of her classes next semester are not online. And poof, thought of going back Rome gone. If Laura could not come with me then I did not want to go.

That is what I thought anyways. Then God decided to remind of a lesson He has taught me once before. A few days later I get a random, completely out of the blue, text message from my landlord asking if my roommate and I can move out of the apartment.

"Now what?"

That is what I was asking myself. I mean I may not have a place to in the near future and there is great opportunity back in Rome. After some thought we decided that maybe God wanted us to move back to Rome and not go overseas. So I decided to call the membership director of the Rome Y and talk to her about the position. Let's just say she dashed my hopes of not having to leave Laura. She told me to send her my resume and said we would have a phone interview soon. The memories of all the goodbyes to Laura came back to mind and to say I got a little sad is an understatement. The last thing I wanted to do was leave her in Orlando for the last 6 months of our engagement. And so we anxiously waited.

To finish this story, I got a text message from my landlord on Wednesday. She told me that we did not have to move out. The following day I got an e-mail from the Rome Y membership director. The current director has decided to stay and not take another job. And here we are back to normal life in Orlando.

Right now I am sitting in Laura's "home" back in Bradenton. As I think about family and hometowns I am reminded that home really is where the heart is, but, God has also reminded me that my heart should be with Him. My actual home should be where ever He wants me to go, even if that means leaving Laura for a little while. Thankfully I do not have to do that right now. Who knows what tomorrow holds though. As much as I love Laura, and love my family, and love Rome and Bradenton, I try and love God more. And that love will take me, and hopefully Laura as well, right where we are supposed to be.