Military Devotion – The Deployment That Never Ends—and the Homecoming – October 30, 2026

Earlier this month I joined several thousand San Diegans and families and friends to welcome home the 4,600 Sailors and Marines aboard the USS Lincoln, among them a friend who is a senior officer. Over dinner that evening he shared stories of their longer than expected deployment. He laughed and said, “There were junior enlisted who didn’t believe that we were actually coming home. Even after we had left Guam and then Pearl Harbor, they believed the Department of War could still send us back out again. They were still uncertain of our homecoming.”  

In the early to mid 2000s when I served as pastor of our church in Radcliff, Ky., more than one Soldier stationed at Fort Knox shared with me that they felt unsure if they were coming back home from Iraq or Afghanistan.    

Earlier this month a 30-year-old Marine died during MARSOC training off the coast of South Florida. He left home certain he would return from training.   

When you experience loss, and bear unimaginable grief, when you wrestle with the “what ifs,” and reflect on your own mortality, and wonder, “When am I coming home? Will I come home?” Jesus wants you to know that you will come home and that homecoming will never end. God has seen it already and shares it with you.  

In his Revelation the apostle John saw “a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes”(Revelation 7:9). Robes that were “washed” and “made. . . white in the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 7:14). That Lamb John saw at “the center of the throne [and he] will be their shepherd; ‘he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes’” (Revelation 7:17).  

The Lamb, Jesus Christ, was slain for you. He rose victorious for you. He lives forever for you so that you know with certainty, he will welcome you home to heaven, with the waving of palm branches instead of flags. Where he will dry all tears. Where he will satisfy our longings and grant us everlasting peace as he leads us to drink living water.  

That homecoming will happen for you and for me, but that time and place is uncertain for us, and the Lamb knows and that is all that matters. For you who have been washed in the blood of the Lamb already have eternal life, aglorious homecoming celebration that will never end. That is certain. I pray that this confidence will dry your tears and give you hope and joy when you face deployments that seem to never end. There is a homecoming that will never end.   

Heavenly Father, watch over our service members during deployments, training exercises, and dangerous missions. Strengthen those who stand watch far from home. Comfort spouses, children, and parents who wait anxiously for their loved ones to return. Bring peace to families grieving a service member’s death. When orders change and the future feels uncertain, remind them that Jesus, the Lamb who was slain for them, has secured theireternal homecoming through his death and resurrection. As they face the dangers of military service and the uncertainties of life, anchor their hearts in your promises. Keep us all faithful until you welcome us home to the place where every tear is wiped away, and we will dwell with you forever. In Jesus’ name. Amen.