Returning
HOME
Returning
HOME ) One Man’s Thoughts on His Journey toward God )
Jesse G. Palmer
Birmingham, AL
Iron Stream Books An imprint of Iron Stream Media 100 Missionary Ridge Birmingham, AL 35242 IronStreamMedia.com © 2019 by the estate of Jesse G. Palmer All rights reserved. First printing 2019. Printed in the United States of America No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the prior written permission of the publisher. Iron Stream Media serves its authors as they express their views, which may not express the views of the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data. Names: Palmer, Jesse G., author. Title: Returning home : one man’s thoughts on his journey toward God / Jesse G. Palmer. Description: First [edition]. | Birmingham : Iron Stream Books, 2019. Identifiers: LCCN 2019012507 | ISBN 9781563092718 (permabind) Subjects: LCSH: Spirituality--Christianity--Meditations. Classification: LCC BV4501.3 .P256 2019 | DDC 277.3/083092 [B] --dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019012507 Unless otherwise noted, scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, King James Version. Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™ ISBN-13: 978-1-56309-271-8 Ebook ISBN: 978-1-56309-272-5 1 2 3 4 5—23 22 21 20 19
Contents Foreword. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii Chapter 1:
On My Way Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Chapter 2:
Where Prodigals Find Peace . . . . . .4
Chapter 3:
A Word with God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Chapter 4:
Moments to Remember . . . . . . . . . .9
Chapter 5:
A Word for God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Chapter 6:
As It Is in Heaven . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Chapter 7:
Lessons Learned Late. . . . . . . . . . . .23
Chapter 8:
Hints of Heaven . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27
Chapter 9:
Into the Highways and Hedges . . .36
Chapter 10: Follow Me . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42 Chapter 11: Near to the [Hurting] Heart of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49
Chapter 12: When God Was Sorry . . . . . . . . . . .52 Chapter 13: Loving Freedom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55 Chapter 14: Why Should He Love Me So? . . . . .59 Chapter 15: Forty Days and Forty Nights . . . . .64 Chapter 16: What Red Means. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69 Chapter 17: Overheard Overtime . . . . . . . . . . . .72 Chapter 18: (Re)intended for Good . . . . . . . . . .77 Chapter 19: A Lifetime of Transformation . . . 88
Foreword
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eturning Home takes us through the back roads of Jesse Palmer’s mind as he travels toward his heavenly home, to which his and our Father bids him come. The journey is circuitous, and Jesse challenges us to walk with him and contemplate some of life’s toughest questions, as well as ponder on God’s answers to them. Thus this is not Google Maps’ “quickest route,” directing us onto a pristine highway for simple pact answers about God. Along the way, Jesse pauses and reaches down to pick up a precious nugget of scriptural truth he has discovered to share with us. Then he moves us along worn roads and introduces us to several of his friends. Next Jesse challenges us to walk through dirty, dark alleys to encounter strangers— like the Samaritan left beaten by thieves to die, the vii
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untouchables, the unwanted, and the unclean who cause us to shudder—those who we need to help and for whom Christ died but whom the self-righteous pass by. Lastly, he points to the way for spiritual transformation. My life’s road crossed with Jesse’s in Montgomery, Alabama, where we both served in the ministry and on a Southern Baptist Association public relations’ committee together. Frankly, I was unsure how I was selected for such a committee, but it made complete sense for Jesse to be on the team. He was a creative genius who could take a simple concept, effortlessly write copy, and create a brand and slogan that were enticing. Over the years, Jesse used his skills to help churches and other Christian organizations throughout the United States share the message of God’s love in fresh and relevant ways that could compel people to follow Christ. Yet Jesse was more than a coworker; he was a friend. Jesse would randomly call his friends and pose some of life’s most difficult questions. For instance, the Easter before Jesse died, he called me and asked, “What do you think God was thinking when He turned His back on Jesus while He died on the Cross?”
Foreword
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This book is for those who struggle spiritually yet desire to have a deeper relationship with God. It is for the prodigal who lost his way or intentionally traveled away from God and needs directions back home. It is for those who have physical limitations like Jesse had with Parkinson’s disease and need assurance of God’s love. Use each of these nineteen short chapters in this book as a daily devotion. Join Jesse in this journey on how God can (re)intend our shortcomings and gain personal peace and transformation. Margaret W. Slusher President LeadPlus Inc. Woodstock, Georgia
Returning
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C HAPTER
1
On My Way Home I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. —Galatians 2:20
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oday I started a journey, a journey from the so-called far country. A place where enslavement masquerades as freedom. In Jesus’ telling of the story of the impatient younger son who demanded his freedom—aka his inheritance: “What is mine”—the young man must 1
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have gone as far away geographically as possible. And then he went even further spiritually squandering on wild, pointless living an inheritance intended for more noble things of which legacies are born. But it was in the prison of depravity and wanton Could it be that same love that now draws me over waste that he would come a dry and thirsty plain to to his senses and deterthe promise of restoration mine to return home, not and redemption? as a son but as a slave. (See Luke 15:11–32.) Today, having partied in the far country, bankrupt of being, I came to my senses. The party was over before it started but not before I had wasted far too much on my own brand of wild, wanton living. But more of that another day when I can stay awake! It’s late. Monday already. Bedtime. Goodnight, God. No, GOODNIGHT, GOD! OK. Fine. But why’d You let me get so far from home? Why’d You let me waste an inheritance on useless, decaying junk? Knowing where I’d find myself, why couldn’t You just rein me in? Could it be . . . Could it be Your love, the same love that let me go as You watched me barrel full-steam ahead, leaving
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You weeping and waiting in a cloud of dust? Could it be that same love that now draws me over a dry and thirsty plain to the promise of restoration and redemption? Though home seems so very far from the far country, I sense it burning through the shackles and shame of a fog of my own making. Getting home is hard, God, but You’ve given me a beacon, the Light of the World. Help me keep my eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of my faith. Goodnight, God, this time for real! I must sleep. Amen.