"I didn't go to religion to me happy. I always knew a bottle of port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly wouldn't recommend Christianity." -C.S. Lewis
Just when you think you have things all figured out, the Lord shows you that He has a plan that differs from your own. As humans, we tend to fight with Him, resist change, question His motives, make our own plans and wonder why they don't come to fruition, and fail in trusting. This has been my experience over the last week. And yet the Father in His grace shows me in the end that His way is better.
When we rolled into Everett on Tuesday, we had been on the road for almost 5 days. Everybody was tired but excited about coming into town and the possibility of moving into our next house. Prior to arriving, I had traded emails with our real estate agent Steve regarding the home inspection. He had given me a list of local inspectors but noted that he knew of 2 who are Christians. Our job was to pick one to do the work for us. Since I figured I wouldn't really learn anything by researching these individuals, and because we trust Steve, I told him to just pick one of the Christian guys that he felt would be appropriate. Little did I know that God might be at work even in something as seemingly insignificant as this.
We spent the afternoon at the house looking around and talking to our "randomly selected" inspector named Mike. He crawled all around the place and made notes. It wasn't until the end of his time with us that I really got to talk to him. The usual question came up of "why did you guys come here from Texas," the question I answer at least once per day. As usual I explained that the Lord had led our family to move to the Northwest to be involved in church planting. Mike seemed intrigued by this and immediately told me that he was a church planter! Now I was really interested, and we began talking about some of the things he had been up to there in the community.
We eventually got to the point where we discussed the house. Mike had noted 2 major issues with it that could potentially cost us a lot of money over the next year. We decided to counter the most recent offer from the sellers and wait and see what would happen. Remember that at this point we have nowhere to live and nowhere to go. Our plans were officially up in the air.
That afternoon I did my usual routine of getting on Priceline to search for a hotel for the night. We found a decent one that was about 15 minutes away and closer to Seattle, so after eating dinner that evening we headed to the hotel. It was New Year's Eve. Upon arrival, we noted that our two rooms for the night were on the same floor but down the hall from each other. This meant that Amanda and I would have to split up that night since we couldn't realistically have kids in one room and adults in the other room. I offered to go wash our clothes since at this point we were out of clean clothes, and some of the boys had been wearing the same clothes for the second day in a row. I spent the evening in the laundry room of the hotel washing clothes in a washer made for about 3 sets of clothes with a dryer that wouldn't dry. Much time was spent in prayer about the house, and I remember asking God to provide that specific house to us and to do it soon since we were tired of living like gypsies! I went to bed after 11 PM once the last load was semi-dry. We relied on the room's heater to finish the drying process for this batch of wet clothes.
The next morning we woke up and went into Everett to go play at the YMCA. Unfortunately it was closed, so since we had nothing to do we wandered around town seeing the sights. We finally wound up at a Hobby Lobby just trying to kill some time and I began to break down. I was really struggling with the idea of another night in a hotel room without anywhere to go. We faced the decision of either accepting the major issues with this house and moving in, or rejecting it an having nowhere to go. I didn't really like either option and in my mind questioned why God would allow things to work out in such a chaotic way. In my mind, He was going to provide what we wanted right at the last minute and everything would line up in the end. But that wasn't happening, and I literally had no sense of what we were supposed to do. Amanda and I started discussing it in the model aisle of Hobby Lobby, trying to come up with a plan for what we were going to do. Everybody was unhappy about the conversation and frustrated by the situation. We left Hobby Lobby with no decision but began entertaining the idea of getting an apartment.
The previous night we had received an email report on the house, and our house inspector Mike invited Amanda and I over to his house for lunch on New Year's Day. We were very excited about this since it meant we wouldn't have to figure out where to go for the day and have to pay for ANOTHER meal for everyone. We wound up spending the entire afternoon with him and his family and a few of his friends, and quickly discovered people who have a real heart for the Lord and for the city of Everett. They told us about their church plant which had started 6 years ago, about the struggles to keep it going, about the people in the community that they were trying to connect with, and generally told about what had brought them to where they were now. Amanda and I were so encouraged to hear their story and were extremely grateful for a good meal and fun for the kids.
We ran into a problem when we left Mike's house for the evening. It was almost 6 PM and we had nowhere to stay for the night! I frantically spent some time on Priceline and found nothing that I felt good about. For the last couple of days I had been wrestling with the knowledge of how much money was literally flying out of the door each day on our quest. We usually were spending anywhere from $120 to $150 per day just for hotel rooms, plus at least another $50-$75 for food. Living on the road with a family of 7 was becoming expensive and difficult. I remember declaring to Amanda that this would be the last night in a hotel. If the house didn't work out by morning, we would sign some papers on an apartment and be done with the issue.
We finally had to settle on staying in a La Quinta in south Everett for the evening, paying a cool $180 for two rooms. It felt like insult to injury at that point. However, we were fortunate to get two rooms next to each other, so Amanda and I could have a room and some valuable time to talk about what we were going to do. I remember being so desperate for just a few minutes to talk out my thoughts with her and see what she was thinking. That's how our marriage works, and I have learned that if I make decisions on my own without getting her input things usually go south in a hurry. My main thoughts centered on why things weren't working out the way I had originally thought they would. I had been on several days worth of wild goose chases in Everett trying to rent various houses and apartments, all that led to dead ends. I had tried to rent our house that was choice number 1 and was rejected. I had worked for more than a week to secure rental on house number 2, fully thinking it would work out in the end, only to find that we were still in a fog and living in hotels each night as we waited for an answer on a place that we were not certain of. What was God doing? Had I missed His direction and gone my own way? Why was He allowing so much frustration and anxiety in our lives?
We got to talk about the plan for the next day and decided to go to an apartment complex first thing in the morning to sign paperwork. I looked up one that I had previously seen, and the very unit that had been shown to me 3 weeks prior was still available. It was a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom space...and it wasn't a hotel. I was sold.
That morning we let our real estate agent know that we were not going to further pursue the house in Everett (we had had no response from the homeowner yet), and went to sign paperwork. Literally within 2 hours we were given the keys to our new place, and again I was left wondering how things had gone so wrong for so many days. But a strange thing happened to us at this point. We were so grateful to just have a roof over our heads. We had no furniture, no beds, no toys, and few clothes, but we had a consistent place to stay, and it was affordable! We had gone from a 6 bedroom, 3.5 bathroom monstrosity in Huffman to a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment where everyone slept on the floor in a sleeping bag. And we were overjoyed at it!
Observing the boy's reactions to this week has taught me some significant things about why the Lord used children as an example of how we are supposed to be if we want to participate in His kingdom. While I was frustrated with our situation and having to find hotels all week, the boys were not worried. They asked me each afternoon where we would be staying that night and where we would eat. They didn't question whether we would have a place to stay or have food to eat. They knew they would have both and weren't worried about it.
When we moved into the apartment, they made the most of everything by playing games with ropes and boxes and were happy with it. They were excited about sleeping on the floor in sleeping bags under conditions that most adults would reject outright. When we were traveling, they were excited each day to have their 2.5 cubic feet of space in the car as long as they had their notebooks and rubber bands to make bracelets. They really didn't complain.
This stands out to me because of what Jesus said about kids.
Mark 10:13-16
Jesus Blesses the Children
One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could touch and bless them. But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering him.
When Jesus saw what was happening, he was angry with his disciples. He said to them, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children. I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.” Then he took the children in his arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them.
What did Jesus mean when He said "anyone who doesn't receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it?" Notice the qualities my own children displayed in the face of frustration, confusion, and disorder this week. They showed blind trust, faith, and above all, peace. They didn't bother me with endless questions about where we would stay, what we would do, where we would go, and what we would eat. They trusted that all of these things would be provided by their parents.
Is it possible that the Lord wants us to do the same with him?
Jesus also said the following:
Matthew 19:23-26
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is very hard for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. I’ll say it again—it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!”
The disciples were astounded. “Then who in the world can be saved?” they asked.
Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.”
These bold statements were made in the wake of His interaction with a rich young man. Jesus had challenged him to sell all of his posessions and give the proceeds to the poor. Only then should he come follow Jesus. The account says that the young man left sad, and we don't know what happened as a result. It is unfortunate, but I see in myself aspects of this rich young man. For so long I was blinded by achievement and accumulation, and in this I completely lost sight of what was really important. Could this be you as well?
So what is our state of mind now? I can confidently say that we as a family are happy. Things aren't easy with so many people in a small space, but we have a lot more time to focus on each other. There are no distractions of fixing things, of yardwork or extra responsibilities at work. Our dinner table is a card table and some folding metal chairs, but in this we have found happiness in the simplicity. We have 9 storage pods worth of furniture and posessions that are still in storage, and we have only emptied 2 for our basic needs such as bedding and a couple of couches.
Was God in all of this? For sure. In His wisdom he knew this experience would be good for us and He forced us to go through it. And He was right to do so. We are excited to see what He does next.
Matthew 7:9-11
“You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.
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