Turn to Page 4... Walkin' By Faith

Something I was reading today triggered this memory and I wanted to share.

Suz & I bought a house in the summer of 2001.  We'd moved back to Missouri after an adventurous few years in Chicago.  It was a house we loved and we were back "home" for as long as the ride lasted.  It lasted for three years.  We've learned since then that we don't lay roots that deep and we've rented ever since.  But those few years of the good ol' American, white picket fence dream were wonderful.  We had parties and Christmas and good times with just us and the cat.  But then the east wind began to blow, a call came and we were back on the road... this time to Eastern Europe.

But what to do about that house?  We didn't know really how long we'd be gone, but we kinda knew this was the end of home ownership for us.  You don't put a house in your parents' basement alongside the photo albums.  You sell a house.  Yep, just like you bought it.  

Short Tangent: When Suz & I go to a cool restaurant or, you know, MOMA or something, we look around for awhile and then one of us casually remarks, "We could totally do this.  It's just [fill in the blank: paper mache', wooden spikes, an American flag out of baseballs]."

So, we decided to sell the house ourselves.

Suz did the research.  I shot some pix and put an ad in the paper.  Oh, and bought a sign from Wal-mart for $10 or so.  My point I'm about to make in all this is when you put God in charge of your direction, everything becomes His call and not yours.  Yes, you get up in the morning and make the choice to use Colgate instead of Crest.  But, the big stuff is left up to Him.  Call it a cop-out; I call it Faith.  And it's the bedrock of our existence.  Watch this:

We prayed about this move long before it was time to start packing.  Both of us knew there was a change coming before we'd discussed it together.  When we put the house on the market it was the final litmus test of what we were about to embark upon.  When God is in the midst of your details, there's no denying the results.

The ad went in the paper on Friday to come out on Saturday.  I put the sign in the yard on Friday evening.  On Saturday afternoon a couple was out house hunting.  They'd experienced a personal tragedy near their current home and wanted to move on, but had found nothing.  As they were driving through the neighborhood, the wife told her husband to turn down our street with the feeling something might be there.  They hadn't seen the ad.  Our street was a dead-end.  They saw the sign and then the house.  By the time I got home to meet them, their extended family was running rampant through our house.  The $10 sign came out of the yard that night and the ad came out of the paper on Monday morning.  We had a contract.  We sold our house in less than 24 hours.  We knew we were in the midst of His design.

 Now some would shake their heads and mutter, "Seller's market; a happy coincidence!"  I choose to stand still and see the Glory of the Lord.  Do I have questions about what our future holds?  With Cooper, now more than ever!  But take my word on it, pick a path drawn by the Master and I promise you'll have peace in the process.