I thought
that since our house is now paid off, I should write about how we got the
house.
On the
night before Thanksgiving 1984, my dad had a dream. Mentally, I was in a rough
spot. He told me on Thanksgiving Day at church about the dream; he said that he
believed that it was from the Lord. He heard the Lord say that we were going to
get a house for $59,000.
We were a
family of five; two adults, a boy, and two girls. We were renting a little two-story
house that had two bedrooms; one just off the dining room on the first floor
and one upstairs. It served our needs and only had a few things wrong with it
such as mice, short ceilings in the basement, and its address was “666”.
The house
was owned by a friend of a friend of ours. His brother had purchased the house
because it was very close in location to his house. His mother was dying in another
state and his brother had purchased the house so that when his mother died, his
father would be closer to his brother.
We were
renting the house under the agreement that when the mother died, we would have
two months to vacate the property. This agreement worked well and we lived at
this house for several years.
In June
of 1985, we received notice that the homeowner’s mother had died and we were
given notice that we need to vacate the house by the August 31, 1985. We spent
the next two months looking for a house to purchase with no success; sometimes
looking at five houses each day.
Then we
came to the point where we had only two weeks left before we had to leave.
Although
we had been looking to purchase a house, we had nowhere to go. And, to make matters
worse, because I wasn’t employed (other than odd jobs) we had no credit rating
and no money in the bank. We were not the candidate that realtors want for
prospective buyers.
I was in
a bad spot. I said to my father-in-law; “God has finally let us down. In two
weeks we will have nowhere to go. No job, no money, no house and no prospects!”
My
father-in-law lovingly responded that he knew that God would come through. He
said; “One thing I know is that your and Cathy’s life has always shown the
provision of the Lord; He has always been faithful to you. In two weeks, you
will have a great testimony of how God came through”.
My
response was cynical and I said something to the effect of; “Why don’t you go
through this and then I will read the book that you write as to how He came
through!” My father-in-law said; “You need to go through this; it is something
that you need to walk through and in two weeks you will have a great testimony
of how He came through”.
Meanwhile
when I was with my father-in-law, Cathy was with one of her sisters looking at
houses. Cathy found a home that she liked on Ohio Street. The flyer said that
it was a “Charming, two-story four-bedroom house with an Upper 3rd Floor located in a convenient area
close to shopping areas, bus service, parks and schools. Because of the large corner
lot, its South exposure fills the home with passive solar during the winter
months and keeps it bright and cheery!” It was listed for the asking price of
$59,900 as a “Contract for Deed…Like renting”
Later
that Night Cathy, my parents, and I went through the house and it was agreed
that we should try to get the house. The realtor (who was also the homeowner)
told us several things about the house not listed in the flyer.
The house
actually had a “contract for deed on a contract for deed” In other words the
realtor was still making payments to someone else for the house. Also, another
person had already signed a “Purchase Agreement”. My mom suggested that none of
this mattered (if Cathy really wanted the house) and said she would call people
and ask them to pray.
This began
a week filled with one road block after another. Each time one road was cleared
(like the original person requesting to back out of the purchase agreement)
another road block would come up.
And each
time my mom would call friends and ask them to pray. And each time one road was
cleared another road block would come up. And each time my mom would call
friends and ask them to pray. This took us to Sunday night, one week after we
first looked at the house.
One week
Later…On August 18, 1985, Cathy, my parents, and I met at the reality office
(again who is also the owner of the house) to sign a “Purchase Agreement and
give a check for two thousand dollars earnest money given towards the purchase
of the house.
She said
to me; “You two are the worst possible scenarios for selling a house. Why am I
doing this sale?” I sheepishly muttered to her “Because they prayed”, referring
to my mom and Cathy.
When
asked what I mumbled, I spoke up and said that my mom and Cathy had prayed that
this sale would go through. The realtor smiled, shook my hand again expressing
what a risk it was and proceeded to congratulate Cathy.
As I
stood in the office I noticed that this realtor had been “Realtor of the Month”
for ten of the past twelve months!
When she
gave a hug to my mom, my mom noticed that the realtor was tearing up. When
asked what was going on, she explained; “Two weeks ago I was talking about this
house with my husband. He said that we would have no problem selling in the
next two weeks before going on a trip overseas. I told him how long it took to
close on the sale of a house. He told me that the sale would happen; after all
they were going to have an audience with the Pope. I told him that if the sale
went through in the next two weeks, it would have to be God.
When you
told me that you prayer, I wondered if God had indeed heard your prayers and
that is why we were doing this”
After a
brief discussion, the sellers agreed to rent the house to us for the month of
September, 1985 for the amount of $375 so that we could move in immediately;
and, so that they could head to Europe to see the Pope.
The
official signing was scheduled for October, 1985 when they returned from
Europe. Keys were given to us; one week after we first set foot in the house
and one week before we needed to get out of the house we were currently
renting. We had beaten the “two-week deadline” as God came through with one
week to spare!
My
understanding is that we would owe a payment of sixty five hundred when we
signed the official paperwork in October. I tried doing everything that I could
to get the money and nothing worked. I had been doing construction on people’s
homes; no one seemed to have money to pay me. I even tried selling antiques and
was offered well below market value.
October
4, 1985, we signed for the house. My parents came with in case we needed to
borrow money for the down payment; which we did. There was also a bill for $65
dollars which covered some filing fees and back taxes. We were able to write a
check because we had that amount of money in the bank. The entire closing took
only fifteen minutes! The monthly house payment was around $540.
I came
home from the signing and was not filled with hope but rather fear as I
wondered how we would pay for the house. I asked Cathy; “Yes, God had gotten us
into the house, but how would we pay for it?” She left me alone in my thoughts
and headed to the store still rejoicing for how God had provided for us. The
mail came and along with it was a local newspaper (the kind normally left to
die in the front bushes). I opened it and saw the name of a company.
This was
an ad stating what the company offers as a service and products. The ad was not
saying that they were looking to hire, but something about the company stood
out to me so I picked up the phone.
I need to
digress and state that this was a bit out of the ordinary for me and it
followed a year of application and interviews with no success and only left me
more discouraged.
The owner
of the company answered the phone and I asked him if they were hiring. He said
to me; “Can you start tomorrow?” and asked me what I would like to make as an
hourly wage; to which I gave him a number. He said that he would pay slightly
less, but after two days he paid me more than I originally asked. I worked for
this company for about eight years.
August
21, 1995. Ten years after we purchased the house we were to make a balloon
payment of approximately eight thousand dollars. Once again I looked to myself
to come up with the funds necessary to cover the debt that was owed.
Once
again my efforts were met with no success at all. After months of trying, we
didn’t have the money for the balloon payment. Once again I wandered and
couldn’t see how we were going to come up with the money.
We asked
the people who met in our home Bible study to pray for us and the situation;
asking for favor from God for the money.
On the
night before the papers were to be signed and the check would be due, I got a
phone call from the realtor who owned the house; the one to whom we would be
writing the check to buy out her portion of the contract for deed. The realtor
had a strange request. She said to me; “I know that tomorrow you are coming
with a check for eight thousand dollars; and I want you to know that
contractually we have to take the money. I am asking if we might talk”. I didn’t tell her that we didn’t have the
money.
One phone
call extended the balloon payment to September 1, 2000. After that we transferred
to a mortgage company; to which we made monthly payments until we were paid up.
All of
the years that we have been in the house, we NEVER missed a house payment; and
we were ALWAYS able to replace furnishings including furniture, appliances,
remodel rooms, replace the roof, soffits, and facia.
Praise be
the Name of the Lord for His faithfulness!
"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." (Matthew 6:33-34 NKJV)
It's a hot end-of-summer September day and I
have an empty schedule. I did do an early-morning airport run and made
several ministry-related phone calls. I also attempted to set up several
appointments with no success. 
So I grabbed my backpack with my iPad and
headed out the door...I dropped off a zip drive at the computer store in my
neighborhood and made my way to a local coffee shop. Along the way I met
several business owners and took time to dialog with them and to introduce
myself.
Today, instead of breaking glass ceilings and
building Rome, this is a day to ponder who God is and reflect on how good He
is. It is a day to receive validation and affirmation as a son from my Heavenly
Father. It is a day to spend time with Him and see where He takes me along the
way.
"...My Father has been working until now,
and I have been working."..."Then Jesus answered and said to them,
“Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son
can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He
does, the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows
Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than
these, that you may marvel." (John 5:17,19-20 NJKV)
