A Curious Turn of Events

We are one month in on a six month lease of our new house. The owners have had it for sale for some time and decided they wanted someone to rent it.  One of the things that we determined to do was go to our house in the valley and pick up a bit of furniture to fill our new home.  We grabbed our full length couch (great napping couch and great couch for conversation), our other full size bed for the guest room, our toaster oven, lamps and pictures.

We had an opportunity from a friend to take his little open trailer to bring some more stuff back, but it seemed like we should just stick with what we could fit in the borrowed pick-up.  It was a successful trip and we got to spend some time with old friends and worship at the church we were a part of.

Then, back to the coast, back to our church that we minister in, and back to our new home. And back to the news that it looks like our new house that we have just moved to and just brought the furniture to fill, is going to be sold.  A curious turn of events.

So, in six, I mean five, months from now, we will be living, or hopefully living in our fourth home since accepting the call to pastor this coastal church. For a guy who likes periodic change to his world, this is even getting a bit much.

While I am extremely grateful that we get to live here, even for a short amount of time, and with the extra space and the view, I can’t help but wonder what is in store for us in the future.  We were first called here for an eight month interim as pastor.  When the church called us full time, we found the cottage and signed a year lease so we knew we would be here for year.  Then the second year lease at the cottage, so one more year here.

This time was a six month lease, so it stands to reason six more months her. But now, what about later?   I am by no means trying to read anything into this as I have learned that God will do what God will do, but it does have my interest peaked and the observational portion of my brain is, at this present time, heightened.

I am not an adventurous person, but I do always seem to have one foot over the edge of newness, excitement, and the ever churning waters of change, but the other foot has found its setting in the stable, the sure, and the secure solid foundation of land.  I am not so much double minded as I am double footed.

My wife has a picture of a painting that has sort of become a description of who I am, or at least, who I think I am.  It is called The Drifter.  It is a 50’s style man in a hat, vest, sleeves rolled up, carrying a small rectangular suitcase down the beach.  And it appears that he is headed out from somewhere walking toward somewhere else.

I am reminded, over and over again, that we are where we are at, because we are where we are at.  It is not a profound statement, but for me, it is true.  No matter how much we enjoy, no matter how great our location, no matter how much beauty surrounds us, and no matter how content or comfortable we are, for the believer, this is not and has never been our home. 

We are just drifting (with purpose mind you) through this corruptible to one day achieve the incorruptible. We have been on a journey.  And one day, one glorious day, we will be finally home. 

So for the next six, I mean five, months the only thing we can do is treat the place as a lovely vacation rental home and enjoy every minute of it.  It will be a time of resting, relaxing, refreshing, and getting ready for the next leg of the journey.

Ever drifting,

Me

Creature of Change

So apparently, I am a person of change.  I didn’t think I was, because I like routine and I like things in the proper place.  But, I do like change.  Especially when I am the one making change.

But, here is an observation about me.  It seems that every two years, there must be a change of significance in my life.  In my mind, it just happens.  It’s not like I am looking at the old calendar and am thinking, “Two years is about up.  Time to shake things up.”  Whether it is a restlessness on my part or circumstance or God keeping me unsettled, I do not know.  Nonetheless, change happens.

I am not sure when it started, but I can track the last fourteen years.  Our small church move to a different building to reduce costs.  Two years later we stopped having church services and I became an assistant manager at an off price retail store.  Two years later, my wife suddenly passed away and I was alone. 

Two years later, I married my most precious and lovely T.  Two years later, my son I. is born premature and I change jobs to a different company to manage.  Two years later, I quit my job and become a stay at home dad and husband.  Two years later, our family moves to the coast and I am a full time pastor at a local church by the Pacific Ocean. 

Which brings us to 2014.  Two years and I guess it is time for a change.  It turns out that we had an opportunity, at least for the next six months, to live in a different home. We had lived about two years at a little cottage.  It was tiny, it was old, it wasn’t well insulated. 

The sun room had plastic roofing which let the sun in and made it quite warm and charming.  But man, when it rained, it was so loud that you couldn’t have a conversation without yelling. And in order to watch TV, my wife and I plugged in headphones and had the close captioning on so we could hear.

For all of the loveliness, there were some issues.  Rodents in the walls, a continual stream of ants, the cramped space confinements.  The biggest issue was not having the ability to have people over.  You could come over to eat, you could come over to sleep, but it was difficult to sit and relax and have conversation as the living room only accommodated a love seat, one cushioned chair, and one rattan chair, which blocked the bookshelf.

But today, as I write we are so grateful, so blessed, that we have been provided by the Provider a home that has doubled, if not more, our living space.  It has a huge front room.  Last night we had a home Bible group there and fourteen people attended.  And we still had room for more. 

It has a dining room, and we have added a leaf to our dinner table.  The kitchen is wide and long enough to have three or four in there comfortably.  There is a den area where we have the television, T.’s digital piano, folding chairs (‘cause we don’t have the furniture to fill it), and my printer set up.

Two bedrooms, one for the boy and a master for us.  And get this, two bathrooms.  One for the boy and for guests, and a double sink, separate tub and shower in the master bedroom.  We have a two car garage, which at the present holds our Honda CRV on one section, and I.’s construction toys in the other.  He’s been playing Gold Rush.

There is a large (15 ½ by 15 ½) bonus room behind the garage.  We are trying to set it up for a guest room for family, friends, and visitors to enjoy.  There is a dedicated laundry room. There is no yard to speak of.  The house has a concrete driveway that, kind of circles the house.  We had parking for nine vehicles and on the side of the house there is room for an RV with electrical hook-ups.

There is a fenced part in the back where one can go and play and for future BBQ’s. It is also cemented.  There are enough windows to let in the natural light and it keeps the inside temperature reasonably consistent.

We are only a block from the ocean and as you look between the row of houses in front of us, there is a partial view of the ocean, of the bay and of the mountain.  I have for the past four days enjoyed my coffee and did my writing peering out the window and watching the waves come in and out.

This two year change was a good one for us.  It gave us the much desirable room that we needed. and the rent is a little bit cheaper. And it gave us a peaceful view and it feels good.  The house is for sale and that is why we only have a six month lease.  But for the next one hundred and eighty days, we will enjoy this great gift.

 

And I will hang around to see what change awaits me in two years.