Who says you can't go home Onesimus?

I always take with me on the cruise ships a few Christian books for the crew members to take free of charge. Today one of those books was a devotional that had been donated to the Seafarers Center by a supporter of the center. One of the guys that I have gotten to know very well on the ship is a brother in Christ named Onesimus from Honduras. He picked up the devotional and opened it to somewhere in the middle and immediately became emotional about what he saw. The devotional that he opened up to was titled “Who says you can’t go home” and was based on the book of Philemon. Onesimus explained to me that he was going home today and that he had been worried about the trip because his country is not very safe right now and he was concerned about the three hour journey from the airport to his home and the chance of being robbed or killed on the way home. He knew God was talking to him through this book because he opened it to this particular page and then he pointed out to me that the main character in the book of Philemon is a slave named Onesimus!!! It amazes me how God works in our lives to show us that he is there and that he cares for us. Here was a worried Seafarer named Onesimus and God put in his hand today a devotion about going home using the book of Philemon which has a character bearing his name. If you get a chance today read the book of Philemon, it is short, only 25 verses. My favorite part is where Paul tells Philemon if anything is owed by Onesimus to put that on Paul’s account. That reminds me of what Jesus did for me when he took the sin debt which I owed and put it on his account.