When Doug and I were first married, good friends gave us a really nice bottle of Medeira. They told us to wait a year to drink it, and in spite of my pleading on numerous occasions to crack it open that first year, Doug held fast to our friend’s instructions. Doug proudly reported to our friends that next year that we had indeed kept it for the year, and at that point our friend told us: “You know, if you let it age five years, it will be even better.” I was crushed, as good alcohol was not in the budget for us and patience is not my strong suite (and determination is Doug’s). And so we waited.
When the possibility of buying a house here in Shoreline first emerged, Doug decided that when we closed on the house, we would celebrate by opening the bottle of Medeira and sipping it in front of a fire in our new home. Tonight, we toast the very good gift of God that is our new home. May it be a place of generous listening and hospitality; a place of compassion and conversation; a place of laughter and imagination.
Congratulations! Six years of patience… that’s amazing.
Well…? How was it?
Now is my chance to return congratulations to you. What a beautiful milestone and beautiful hopes that you have for it.
It was great, Jamie! I sipped it while putting some final touches on my teaching for Sunday. Thanks Kacie and Rebecca!
Yahoo! To bad it didn ‘t happen when I was there!
Wonderful!
How did God swing it?
Sounded like part of the reason you headed north was because you were so financially strapped and trying to make ends meet. How did you go from ‘hat in hand’ to new home in a couple of months during the worst economic downturn since the 1930’s?
Sounds like there’s a wonderful story of God’s provision in there somewhere.
Tom,
The decision to leave L.A had little to do with money. Time and family, perhaps, but not money. The house we are in came about as a result of a combination of factors: a loan from family; a great interest rate; a low purchase price. And we would be hard-pressed to find a rental for the amount of our monthly payment. So yes, God’s provision throughout.
There’s nothing wrong, at least in my mind, in making decisions to improve available time and investment in your family–and in Doug’s potential to get a grad degree. You’ve been writing about those things both on and between the lines for a couple of years. Why the ‘perhaps?
In the real world, though, those kinds of things often require money.
Loans from family and low interest rates and low purchase prices are all about money. I would guess that whole financial equation would have been harder in LA for a variety of reasons.
The most impressive Christian mentor I’ve had told me, “Don’t trust any Christian that tells you money is no object. Jesus talks about money in the shrewdest and most practical terms.”
He was trying to help me out of an overly idealistic worldview that denies the basic role that money plays in most all of our decisions.
The trick, I guess, is witnessing to how we make money–which is part and parcel of most every decision–serve us and the Kingdom and not vice versa.
Tom,
They are all linked, you’re right. I didn’t mean to say the “perhaps” like I wasn’t willing to own those desires/needs. I can see how it came out that way.
Certainly the nome purchase would have been an impossibility in our community, at least, loan or not. Prices are a bit different up here, to be sure.
Thanks for the reminder about openness when it comes to money! It is easy to avoid or idealize our relationship to money for sure.
Tom, I don’t know who you are (except for “Tom who comments on this blog”) but I just gotta say, I love reading what you write. I love your perspective on things, and your grace through it all. 🙂
I’m a fan!
YIPPEE!! So excited! Can’t wait to come visit! (Can we bring the dog?)
Erika,
We rejoice with you for God’s care and providence for the Haub family, truly a testament of Ephesians 3:20. He is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine!
Carole
I think every couple getting married ought to get a bottle and be told to wait 5 years to drink it… maybe that would help America get out of the habit of divorcing in the first 5 years of marriage. 🙂