My father was a minister and that meant that we moved some eight times in my growing up years. We lived in apartments, rented houses, parsonages, and once even in the back of the church building. Not until I went away to college did my parents own their first home. So, "home," to me, was always by Grandma Knowles' home in Hubbard, Iowa. It never changed, year after year. Each summer we would come back for a week or two and spend time in that familiar place. It is the only "home place" I really knew as a child.

That's why this verse I am about to share with you today means so much to me. "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever" (Psalm 23:6 NKJV). Heaven is the dwelling place of God, but it is also the future dwelling place of the righteous. Notice how positive David was about this matter: "I will dwell in the house of the LORD." He had no doubts or questions, and neither should we. If the Lord is our Shepherd, then it's settled. But David went on to say that he would live in God's house forever. Heaven is what I call "The Forever House." All houses and homes here are temporary. Even my Grandmother's familiar house in Hubbard is now gone, burned to the ground some years ago. A steel building used to house emergency vehicles now occupies the ground. There is nothing to go back to. But it is different with my "Forever House." There I shall dwell in the house of the LORD...forever! Heaven...don't miss it for the world!

Hymn: "A pilgrim was I, and a wandering, in the cold night of sin I did roam; When Jesus the kind Shepherd found me, and now I am on my way home. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days, all the days of my life...And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever, and I shall feast at the table spread for me; Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days, all the days of my life" (John W. Peterson)