Pastor: Richard Hurd
The Midweek message is an On-line Ministry
Of Pastor Dick Hurd and the “Caton Church"
A Global Methodist Church September 9, 2026
Of Pastor Dick Hurd and the “Caton Church"
A Global Methodist Church September 9, 2026
I was thinking about home today, not the home I enjoy now but the one I grew up in. The home filled with laughter, joy and boundless love. Seven kids, Mom and Dad and the kind of peaceful security that every child should experience growing up. I am fully aware of how richly blessed I have been and I am truly thankful. I drive by that old house nearly every day now, and it bothers me how it has fallen into disrepair. But those who own it now have no idea how treasured it is to me and mine and so they don’t care for it as we would. It seems sort of sad though, sitting there with tall grass and weeds growing all around. If houses could speak, I wonder if it would remember those good times as I do. I wonder if those rooms would echo the voices of my siblings living and growing within its walls. I wonder if the cupboards my dad built with such care are still there. I always seem to take notice of the maple tree in the back yard that I planted there when it was just a stick and I was just a boy with big dreams and hopes for it to grow tall. It did grow, probably fifty feet high by now, big and beautiful and strong. When I see it, I am encouraged because it means for me that even though life changes it is also resilient, persistent and determined just like I want to be.
The reality however, is that life always moves forward and not back. And even though it is lovely to reminisce about what once was and it is good to be able to enjoy what is now, our concept of home and all that it means changes through time. These days when I think about home, it is not about that old house on Front street, with the big Maple tree in the back yard. It is not even about the log house on Hurd Hill that we built with our own hands and where I sit now and write this message. Now, I think about a greater and more glorious home. A home in the presence of our Holy God and in the everlasting embrace of our Lord Jesus. Because that home is not ever going to change. It won’t become dilapidated and worn out. It won’t ever seem sad and used up. It will be eternal and we will be its eternal residents, not by our virtue but simply and profoundly by God’s Grace. It has been said that you can never go home again but whoever said that obviously never knew our precious Jesus!
The reality however, is that life always moves forward and not back. And even though it is lovely to reminisce about what once was and it is good to be able to enjoy what is now, our concept of home and all that it means changes through time. These days when I think about home, it is not about that old house on Front street, with the big Maple tree in the back yard. It is not even about the log house on Hurd Hill that we built with our own hands and where I sit now and write this message. Now, I think about a greater and more glorious home. A home in the presence of our Holy God and in the everlasting embrace of our Lord Jesus. Because that home is not ever going to change. It won’t become dilapidated and worn out. It won’t ever seem sad and used up. It will be eternal and we will be its eternal residents, not by our virtue but simply and profoundly by God’s Grace. It has been said that you can never go home again but whoever said that obviously never knew our precious Jesus!
Yours in the love of Christ,
Pastor Dick
Breath Prayer: Lord, may we all one day hear your welcome home. Amen
Pastor Dick
Breath Prayer: Lord, may we all one day hear your welcome home. Amen
