I have that song . . . but it's in another language?

Well . . . 24 hours of driving later, we finally arrived in Skopje from Germany. Eight countries, detours on top of detours in Austria, an expensive overnight in Trieste, Italy near the Slovenian border, but good solid get-reacquainted-time with my three teenagers, one which is now a graduate. Yesterday while we were somewhere in Croatia, Helen was riding in the front seat with me and she was flipping though the iPod looking for songs to listen to, and she said, "Oh I have that song on a CD, but it's in a different language!"

I thought to myself, what a life these kids live . . . I would have NEVER been able to say when I was 13 years old, "Oh I have that song, but it's in a different language!" Simply NEVER would that have been possible. Now on a trip like this one, with five different languages and six different currencies is just a normal everyday part of life, both for me and for the kids. Living in Germany, 2000 kilometers from mom and dad is "normal" and living in a dorm with 30 other MK's is "normal" and traveling half way across the European continent to get "home" is "normal" and truthfully saying, "I have that song on a CD, but it's in another language" is "normal".

I gonna be honest with you . . . this is what our life is like . . . but I am not sure it ever feels "normal". What is normal? Is normal the way we always have done it? Or is normal the way the majority of the people in the world do it? Is normal the way it ought to be done? If any of those qualify for "normal" then I still don't think we are there yet. Is it possible to be at home in a sense everywhere in the world, and at the same time not feel at home anywhere? Is this what Paul was talking about in the NT when he was struggling with living or dying and which one might be more advantageous? Did Paul finally make up his mind? I am not sure, but I do know that this is not my "home" and "normal" is anyone's guess.