On several occasions when I was a student at Dallas Seminary, my wife and I would drive home to Ohio just for the weekend—1,051 miles if I remember correctly. We would have only a few hours to be home before we would have to turn around and drive back to Dallas so as not to miss classes or work on Monday. Truly, home was like a magnet to us. When my parents decided to downsize and move into a smaller place, I was surprised at how difficult that move was for me as an adult son.

Today we’re a nation of nomads. On the average, we make 11.7 moves in a lifetime.1 Something within us, however, always looks back. Even now, when I return to the village of Cedarville, I always try to drive by that house where I grew up and remember how special that place really was. I loved that house and love it still. Love always pulls us home.

I sense that our home in El Cajon is just as important to our four children and eleven grandchildren. We have shared many celebrations in that place and, after what I experienced with the closing of my parents’ home, I am not thinking about downsizing any time soon. I want my children and grandchildren to live with the security of knowing where their earthly home is—a place where a light is always on and love is ready to be shared.

I know I have one more move left. No matter how much I love these earthly dwellings, no matter how cozy they have been—this last move will redefine my idea of home. It will be my forever home. Far from “downsizing,” this time I’ll be “upsizing”—moving to a place where my heavenly Father can gather all of His sons and daughters together for a heavenly reunion that will never end.

That place we usually refer to as “heaven” is given a number of different labels in Scripture. My favorite is “the Father’s House,” the name Jesus used to describe heaven: “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2 NIV). In this comforting image we come face-to-face with the closeness, intimacy, and permanency of heaven.

Commenting on this verse, Randy Alcorn, who has written the best and most definitive book on heaven, describes our future home like this:

Place is singular, but rooms is plural. This suggests Jesus has in mind for each of us an individual dwelling that’s a smaller part of the larger place. This place will be home to us in the most unique sense.