In the 1939 iconic fantasy film, The Wizard of Oz, a girl by the name of Dorothy Gale, along with her little dog Toto, was caught in a farmhouse as a tornado was ripping across the Kansas farmland, where she had called “home,” belonging to her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry. Remarkably, the farmhouse failed to break apart as it was being lifted up off the ground and made landfall in the land of the Munchkins in the land of Oz still intact!
Dorothy and Toto had survived the fall, but there was one fatality; the farmhouse came to rest on top of a sinister woman known as the Wicked Witch of the East. Our only visual of her is that part of the body just below the knees sticking out from underneath the farmhouse. She was probably as green and ugly as her sister with a nasty disposition to boot!
When we get to know her sister from the West, we can surmise that the eastern witch was probably up to no good for the Munchkins. Dorothy Gale quickly realized after stepping out the front door of the displaced farmhouse that she and Toto were not in Kansas anymore!
Dorothy singing “Over the Rainbow” back on the Kansas farm before things took a twist reminds me of being careful what you ask or dream for because you might just get it!
Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high
There’s a land that I heard of once in a lullaby
Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true
Someday I’ll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far behind me
Where troubles melt like lemon drops
Away above the chimney tops
That’s where you’ll find me
Somewhere over the rainbow, bluebirds fly
Bird fly over the rainbow
Why, then
Oh, why can’t I?
If happy little bluebirds fly
Beyond the rainbow
Why, oh, why can’t I?
(“Over the Rainbow” lyrics by E.Y. Harburg and Harold Arlen)
Dorothy was no longer in a world of black and white, but a world of technicolor, somewhere over the rainbow! Shortly after Dorothy’s arrival at Munchkin land, Glinda, the Good Witch from the North, paid a visit to the one who came from the stars. The Munchkins considered Dorothy some kind of national heroine for killing the Wicked Witch of the East and celebrated by singing, “Ding Dong! The wicked witch is dead.” They quickly discovered another darkness on the horizon with the appearance of the Wicked Witch of the West, making threats during the festivities.
Glinda had advised Dorothy; that since she wanted to return home and didn’t have a broomstick, she would have to follow on foot the yellow brick road that leads to the Emerald City far away in the land of Oz. There lived a great and wonderful Wizard who might be able to assist her in getting back home. According to the Good Witch of the North, this Wizard of Oz was very good and very mysterious.
The only danger ahead was Dorothy’s new-found enemy, the Wicked Witch of the West, who was more wicked than her sister of the East and blamed Dorothy for her sister’s death! So much for singing about a place “Where troubles melt like lemon drops!” The wicked witch of the West introduced her to a new taste of sour where lemons dropped like bombs!
Glinda made it known to Dorothy that it was very important that the ruby slippers, magically placed on her feet, remained on her feet for the Wicked Witch of the West was bound and determined to get a hold of her sister’s magical ruby slippers. What Glinda didn’t tell Dorothy was that the shoes would only come off of her feet willingly or by death!
As Dorothy made her way down the yellow brick road, she came across three colorful characters with dreams of their own: a scarecrow, a tin man, and a lion. One by one, they all willingly accompanied her to go and meet this Wizard in the Emerald City of the land of Oz who might be able to help them to realize their own dream, no matter what was before them.
Let’s pick up on one of the scenes on the yellow brick road where Dorothy had asked the tin man a question with scarecrow standing close behind her,
“Do you suppose we’ll meet any wild animals?”
The tin man replied, “Umm, we might!”
Dorothy takes a breath of worry. The scarecrow quickly followed suit with a question of his own for the tin man,
“Animals that that eat straw?”
The tin man responded, “Uh, some, but mostly lions, and tigers, and bears.”
As if to reaffirm what the tin man was saying about the possibility of meeting such dreadful animals along the way,
Dorothy cried out,
“Lions?”
The scarecrow chimed in,
“And tigers?”
And the tin man confirmed their concerns of the possibility of meeting up with some of these wild beasts roaming around Oz by replying,
“and Bears!”
So, in contemplation of all of that, the three locked arms together and intrepidly moved forward because their dreams were greater than their fears. Down the yellow brick road, they went, followed by Dorothy’s little dog, Toto, chanting,
“Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Lions and….”
As this chant reached a crescendo, they were startled by a lion with his bellowing! The lion made his way down to the yellow brick road to confront them; this wannabe king of the forest was looking for a fight!
Their fears had rapidly materialized before their very eyes! Their dreams seemed to be momentarily in jeopardy until Dorothy slapped the harassing lion in the face, and they all discovered that this bellicose, predatory feline was not what he appeared to be. There was no courage behind his roar!
We are left to believe that had they ran into any tiger or a bear along the way, there would be something wanting in each of them, too! You see this in the winged monkeys hailing Dorothy after accidentally killing the Wicked Witch of the West with water! So, the sniffling, cowardly lion became a part of the needy and journeyed to the Emerald City to see the great and powerful Wizard of Oz!
Dorothy dreamed of returning home, the scarecrow desired a brain, the tin man yearned for a heart, and the cowardly lion longed for the courage that he considered vital if he truly wanted to be known as the king of the forest. They all believed that this mysterious Wizard of Oz had the solution to what they all felt was necessary in order to affect a different outcome in their unhappy lives.
Ironically, they came to discover after reaching the Emerald City and meeting the risky demand of the Wizard to retrieve the broomstick from the Wicked Witch of the West, that even the Wizard was wanting, too; he was not so great and powerful! But more importantly, their respective dreams were within their own grasp all along!
The Wizard brought this truth to light with the scarecrow, the tin man, and the lion. Their dreams had already come true. Dorothy’s dream was still in the future; she and Toto would still have to hitch a ride on a hot air balloon with the Wizard back to Kansas; all was well.
Once inside the basket, Toto would jump out of the basket to chase after some cat! Dorothy did not want to leave Toto behind, so she got out of the basket to get Toto. After retrieving Toto, the hot air balloon had already ascended to a point of no return as she was making her way back to the gondola with Toto. Her newfound friends in Oz had gotten what they desired, but for Dorothy, she believed that she had missed her only opportunity to return home to Kansas.
It was after the inconsolable thinking of Dorothy that she will never get home that the Good Witch of the North appeared to her as she did back in Munchkin Land. Glinda pointed out to Dorothy that the way home was in the magic behind the ruby slippers. She was three clicks away from Kansas; strangely, she had always been only three clicks away from home when those shoes magically appeared on her feet! Or maybe, it wouldn’t work until she truly came to believe – “There’s no place like home?”
The next thing we see is Dorothy waking up in her own bed in Kansas after sustaining a bump on her head. She told Auntie Em, Uncle Henry, and the farmhands of a real, truly live place and remembering some of it was not very nice, but most of it was beautiful, but just the same, she kept telling everybody that she wanted to go home, and they sent her home! The last we hear from Dorothy is her heartfelt words to Auntie Em, “Oh Auntie Em, there’s no place like home!”
Though this story is nothing more than a fantasy, as a believer in Jesus Christ, I have learned a very long time ago not to throw out the baby with the bathwater. I still enjoy watching this movie! Lately, I have been thinking of home, not my home on earth but in heaven. I see the need to be mindful of home all the time but not to the point of being so heavenly minded I am of no earthly good, yes?
Obviously, I have never been to my home in heaven, but yet, I have this strange and mysterious longing to be there because Christ in me is up there! It’s an undeniable connection; the Holy Spirit lives within me. I feel as if I belong there, having never been there or seen it, ever since placing my trust in Yeshua ben Joseph of Nazareth. I know full well I do not deserve to go there, but for the grace of God, I am going there! Do you ever feel that longing that almost feels like a tugging in your heart to be with Jesus in glory?
At times, I will confess that I get so tired and weary of the struggle, the evil, the endless expressions of sin, and the all-consuming hatred of the world, even in my own battles against the impulses of the flesh, the secular world system, and the predatory devil. Thankfully, I do not have to ever worry while under the rainbow or this side of eternity of making my way or missing my ride to a place that I have never been and never seen, except through the eyes of faith. It is promised to me and to you (1 Thes 4:16-17; Heb 9:28; 1 Jn 3:2-3; Rev 3:21)!
God be praised that all who know Christ have an eternal home in glory! Because He lives, we live, and we will live with Him in glory forever. It is not by works, like clicking our heels three times, for instance, that is going to get us there! It is solely by grace through faith in the work of Christ that we will go to heaven when we die, barring the rapture, to a place literally way beyond that rainbow of promise to Noah, beyond the infinite-like expansion of creation itself!
Think of home more often, my brethren. Whenever we arrive there, we will know without a doubt that we are not in Kansas anymore; nor shall we ever want to return to the former state! This is no fantasy; it’s based on the authority of His Word!
Heaven, our future home, is a place of unimaginable beauty and splendor because the Triune Godhead is there, not to mention our loved ones who have gone before us and the countless good angels who have supported Yahweh and us along the way! As important as our home on earth is to us, it pales in every conceivable way to our incomparable home in glory! For all who are genuinely born again, truly, there’s no place like home. <><
In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.
If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also (Jn 14:2-3, NASB).1
1. The verb may be (Jn 14:3) is in the present tense (continual, without end, per se), and the mood is subjunctive meaning an act or state having contingency or possibility. Where I am, there, you may be also is not conditional but provisional (I go to prepare a place for you, v2); it is predicated on the solid assurance of the Person making the promise, I will come again. In other words, it is not a fact yet, but it will be. The present subjective looks forward to the literal “resolution of the contingency.” At that unknowable time, to pinpoint the whereabouts of any believer, one has only to look for Christ! I like this paraphrase,
“When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with Me where I am” (Jn 14:3, NLT).
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