Life: an adventure, a journey with Jesus!
The House Rental
Another leg of the journey is complete! We have seen Jesus in new ways during the month of December. He orchestrates the paths we take, our steps. He does, if we let Him. We have many God stories to share. Let me share one with you.
This story began months ago, but in December, at the right time, in His time, the end of the story began and it is now being written. The original plan was for us to sell our house and liquidate our assets in preparation of our move to Peru as full time missionaries. We are instructed in scripture to seek counsel of Godly men. For some reason, this didn’t occur to us in the plans of selling our home. It was the adult children who began to encourage us to re-think this plan. Then, and only after their planting of the seed, did we seek counsel of a dear friend. The plan was changed to rent the house, and store a minimum number of personal items in our 10’ x 16’ wood shed. Finding the right person/couple to rent the house would become a priority prayer request. If we didn’t secure a renter, we would pay the mortgage and our neighbors and children would check on the property regularly.
We listed the house on Craigs List. We put a “for rent” sign in the front yard. We told everyone we knew that it was available for rent. We had taken the first step. We had to sit and wait. Several inquiries were received. Single Moms who couldn’t afford it, a young couple who had 2 dogs, a family with 4 elementary school aged children, two emails from out of the country offering strange arrangements (scams). No serious inquiries. Our thoughts began to run wild, but we weren’t going to tell anyone! We thought…Time is of the essence; it’s now December. We thought…renting would really help with the budget. We thought…We don’t want an empty house. On the other hand, we wanted to make sure we were doing the right thing. People warned us and told us their personal horror stories and experiences. Friends and acquaintances both cast doubt in our plan of action. We prayed and asked our Sunday School Class to pray for us as we needed wisdom in this decision.
Early in the month of December we had a visitor to our Sunday School class and found out that it was Pastor Douglas’ father-in-law. He and his wife were thinking of relocating to Georgia from New York. Pastor Douglas asked Don about the availability of the house and asked us to consider whether or not we would want to rent it to Gary Laws and his wife. A week went by and we didn’t hear again from him. We began to ask ourselves, why? Doubts were creeping in again. We were at the Bridgeway Church Christmas party (our attendance is another God story to be shared at another time) and Joy asked Cathy what her father’s plans were. She said they were waiting to hear from us! If we had only known. We didn’t realize the ball was in our court. Since it was, we picked it up and ran with it! Don, Douglas and Gary agreed that night to meet the next week to discuss the house rental.
We had a wonderful time sharing with one another where God had been using us in our individual lives and what we felt His plan for each of us was for the immediate future. Gary and his wife are retired Salvation Army Officers, he has been a pastor and preached for many years, and is presently writing and fulfilling speaking engagements. His wife has not enjoyed good health these past couple of years, and moving closer to Cathy would be helpful. It was our privilege to invite them to pray about the opportunity to rent and live in our house in our absence. This they did. We did. Pastor Douglas told us a couple of weeks later that if it was okay with us they would like to have us draw up a rental agreement. What a fantastic Christmas present to be able to take down the “for rent” sign in our front yard!
Please rejoice with us as we once again know, without a doubt, that God brought the Laws and Norrises together in His perfect timing. What more could we ask for than to have members of the body of Christ pay us to manage our property in our absence! Do you recall the verse that says “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.” Galations 6:10 Well, we feel blessed to partner with Mr. & Mrs. Gary Laws in the fulfilling of this scripture. We are there for them and they are there for us. What beautiful music we can enjoy when we listen to the Maestro.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
God at Work - Journal Entry #1
Life: an adventure, a journey with Jesus!
Final Liquidation Plans
Another leg of the journey is complete! We have seen Jesus in new ways during the month of December. He orchestrates the paths we take, our steps. He does, if we let Him. We have many God stories to share. Let me share one with you.
This one began mid-November. We have had several estate sales here at the house in Duluth to liquidate our household items in preparation of relocating to Peru to serve the Lord for a yet-to-be-determined length of time. Sales have been good. Really! However, if you have a pack-rat in your family, or if you are collectors, you will someday realize how much you have that you don’t need. That’s us. Thanksgiving was right around the corner, which means estate sales would be difficult to have every weekend. We were expecting company over the holidays. Our time to commit to the sales was limited. Outdoor sales were becoming more difficult due to the weather. We needed to regroup and go to plan B.
We decided to contact an auctioneer to help us with the liquidation process. We have attended antique and general auctions for years. We knew the kind of auction and auctioneer we wanted. We knew from experience who to call. We always liked the way this man presented himself at an auction, his honesty, his way of doing business. So Don called “Larry”. He actually called him three times before he returned our call. We were discouraged, but when he finally called and made an appointment we were hopeful. The appointment time came – Larry didn’t. Talk about being frustrated. That’s us! We discussed our options and decided to call “Judy” to do an on-site estate sale. Although we felt Larry was more the type of personality we preferred, Judy was known to do a good job and we had attended some of her sales. The appointment was set for her to come and share with us her plan and contract agreement. Again, we were hopeful.
The phone rang one Monday morning, and Joy listened to Larry apologize for missing his appointment. He had travelled to Chicago for Thanksgiving, visited with elderly parents who took sick during their visit and had to delay his return to GA. He didn’t have his appointments and contact phone numbers with him in Chicago. He asked if we would forgive him. Of course Joy said yes. Things like this do happen. Larry asked if he could come by and visit with us to share his plan. A little put out and therefore a little abrupt, (now who needs to apologize) Joy said we would be available the next morning at 9:30 a.m. Larry said he would meet us at our place. Tuesday morning came and so did Larry! Now we were getting somewhere. We exchanged pleasantries, toured the home, and discussed his business plan. He has a staff that will wrap, inventory, and box up items in our presence to be sold during 2-3 auctions in his facility after the holidays. During our conversation, Larry began to share the gospel with us! He handed Joy a little card explaining how to share Christ with someone. The conversation went from antiques and the liquidating process, to sharing our plan to go into full-time ministry in Peru, our relationship with the Lord Jesus, Larry’s faith and his local church. Remember when we said we felt his personality was preferable? Now we know why!
Yes, we met with Judy a few days later. She’s a pleasant lady with a great track record. She offered a totally different plan for selling our items, and it was one that would displace us from our home for 10-14 days and then we would have to return to clean it for the family who is renting our house, after hundreds of potential buyers traipsed through over a period of 5 days or more. Anything we wanted to hold – not sell – should be locked up as she would not be responsible for it. This would definitely be a challenge for us to move out by the 2nd week in January and then return to shampoo what were once off-white carpets in preparation for renters. Fun? Not!
We really believe that this was one step of the journey that God orchestrated on our behalf. We can leave knowing Larry, a Christian businessman, will work with a friend of ours to handle the sale of our antiques and household items. We won’t have to vacate our home early. The cleaning of the house will be more manageable, also a financial savings. We signed a contract with Larry and have never heard back from Judy.
Final Liquidation Plans
Another leg of the journey is complete! We have seen Jesus in new ways during the month of December. He orchestrates the paths we take, our steps. He does, if we let Him. We have many God stories to share. Let me share one with you.
This one began mid-November. We have had several estate sales here at the house in Duluth to liquidate our household items in preparation of relocating to Peru to serve the Lord for a yet-to-be-determined length of time. Sales have been good. Really! However, if you have a pack-rat in your family, or if you are collectors, you will someday realize how much you have that you don’t need. That’s us. Thanksgiving was right around the corner, which means estate sales would be difficult to have every weekend. We were expecting company over the holidays. Our time to commit to the sales was limited. Outdoor sales were becoming more difficult due to the weather. We needed to regroup and go to plan B.
We decided to contact an auctioneer to help us with the liquidation process. We have attended antique and general auctions for years. We knew the kind of auction and auctioneer we wanted. We knew from experience who to call. We always liked the way this man presented himself at an auction, his honesty, his way of doing business. So Don called “Larry”. He actually called him three times before he returned our call. We were discouraged, but when he finally called and made an appointment we were hopeful. The appointment time came – Larry didn’t. Talk about being frustrated. That’s us! We discussed our options and decided to call “Judy” to do an on-site estate sale. Although we felt Larry was more the type of personality we preferred, Judy was known to do a good job and we had attended some of her sales. The appointment was set for her to come and share with us her plan and contract agreement. Again, we were hopeful.
The phone rang one Monday morning, and Joy listened to Larry apologize for missing his appointment. He had travelled to Chicago for Thanksgiving, visited with elderly parents who took sick during their visit and had to delay his return to GA. He didn’t have his appointments and contact phone numbers with him in Chicago. He asked if we would forgive him. Of course Joy said yes. Things like this do happen. Larry asked if he could come by and visit with us to share his plan. A little put out and therefore a little abrupt, (now who needs to apologize) Joy said we would be available the next morning at 9:30 a.m. Larry said he would meet us at our place. Tuesday morning came and so did Larry! Now we were getting somewhere. We exchanged pleasantries, toured the home, and discussed his business plan. He has a staff that will wrap, inventory, and box up items in our presence to be sold during 2-3 auctions in his facility after the holidays. During our conversation, Larry began to share the gospel with us! He handed Joy a little card explaining how to share Christ with someone. The conversation went from antiques and the liquidating process, to sharing our plan to go into full-time ministry in Peru, our relationship with the Lord Jesus, Larry’s faith and his local church. Remember when we said we felt his personality was preferable? Now we know why!
Yes, we met with Judy a few days later. She’s a pleasant lady with a great track record. She offered a totally different plan for selling our items, and it was one that would displace us from our home for 10-14 days and then we would have to return to clean it for the family who is renting our house, after hundreds of potential buyers traipsed through over a period of 5 days or more. Anything we wanted to hold – not sell – should be locked up as she would not be responsible for it. This would definitely be a challenge for us to move out by the 2nd week in January and then return to shampoo what were once off-white carpets in preparation for renters. Fun? Not!
We really believe that this was one step of the journey that God orchestrated on our behalf. We can leave knowing Larry, a Christian businessman, will work with a friend of ours to handle the sale of our antiques and household items. We won’t have to vacate our home early. The cleaning of the house will be more manageable, also a financial savings. We signed a contract with Larry and have never heard back from Judy.
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