Desires Of The Heart

NOT!! Chestnut St.

That airplane story taught me a lot about priorities. It also taught me that God only wants the very best for our lives. Really, I needed to learn to trust Him enough to truly believe this. I have mentioned it before, but I Peter 5:7, "Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you", is true. Do you trust Christ that much, to cast "ALL" your cares, concerns, and desires to Him? This seems to be a lifelong lesson for many to really commit to, so don't be one of those. He is faithful and true. Your best friend will one day fail you, but He never fails.

James, in his letter, tells us "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights..." (James 1:17). Whether the world would call these gifts good or bag doesn't matter, because James starts his letter by telling us to rejoice in our trials, that the trials would ultimately produce good in our lives. Only God can make this happen. Again, He only wants the best for you, and He delights in giving you what you want. Let me share what I mean…

Back in the late eighties I was working as an engineer for a concrete company in a small town called, Bethel, Pennsylvania. This town had no bank, so on every payday, I would drive into the town of Richland to do my banking. The main street into town was Chestnut Street on which I passed the prettiest house I’ve ever seen. It was nothing special, a simple rancher, but the yard work, with all kinds of flowers, looked like The Masters golf course in Augusta, Georgia. In addition to that, it had a huge in-ground pool, two story barn, and a gazebo in the backyard, all of which was just as groomed as the front. With three growing boys, when I saw this as I drove by, I just gave out a quick, thoughtless, “Wow, I’d like to have that, Lord.” This went on for several years throughout the seasons and I was never disappointed with the upkeep. Now, unlike my airplane story, this was not a must have heartache. I just so enjoyed its appearance and neatness that every time I would pass by, I would simply smile and say, “Lord, that would be nice to have.” I didn’t even think I was praying for a house. I wasn’t, because God had already blessed my family and I with our first house on six acres in Bethel. 

I was just complimenting the homeowner for a job well done.

 Well, in the fall of 1989, after raising nearly $300,000 from investors,  I launched a new company promoting a new type of downhill sit-ski. By 1991 the funds were gone and my personal savings gone. After devoting a year of full-time marketing and travel to every place on earth, I was flat broke and unable to pay my bills. I had no choice but to put my house up for sale. I decided to put a “For Sale By Owner” sign out front, and to my surprise, I was signing papers for the sale of the house within two weeks. I thought, “wow, that was easy,” until friends and relatives suggested that the price was too low. I thought I had done my research, but quickly realized that I could never replace that house with what money I had left.

So for the next few months, after getting my old job back, we were renting a townhouse from the Theological Seminary in Myerstown, Pennsylvania. It was nice, met all our needs, but instead of six acres to play in I got tired chasing my boys up those three flights of stairs. I think it was about a year in this place when my wife and I decided it was time to buy our own house again.

We started driving around to look for that “perfect” place. Even with the additional money I managed to save, I quickly realized that maybe we could settle for something “less perfect.” We all have limits, and I knew ours to the penny. So, we decided to contact a realtor. She was nice and worked so hard to find us a place within budget. She took us to what felt like hundreds of houses over the next several months to the point of exhaustion.

I felt like a walking Realtor.com

During this time, my place of employment had moved to Myerstown which made sense to just stay put. I really wanted our own house, I hate throwing money away on rent. The bigger heartbreak was that I wanted a “special” place for my young boys to build their memories and not forget home. I had a very special childhood and wanted the same for them. It was with a great feeling of disappointment when my wife and I knelt down on our knees and surrendered our situation to God. We reassured ourselves through prayer that our joy was in Christ and Christ alone. We didn’t need a different house, all our needs were met and we would be ok.

Well folks, I didn’t get to ...”In Jesus Name Amen,” before the realtor called all excited about showing us another house. Only this time I thanked her for all that she had done and explained to her that we were now out of the market. I asked her to please take our names off “the list”, that we had just accepted God’s will for our lives. However, her excitement wasn’t deterred and she demanded that we would go to see just one more house. I again said no, that our minds were made up, that we were done looking for a house, and that we just didn’t have the money for what we really desired. She started pleading with us, “This house is beautiful, it’s just what you want, and it fits your budget perfectly. Please, just see it for me.” While looking at my wife, and now a little frustrated I said, “Where is this house?”, as my wife’s eyes roll to the back of her head. The realtor started giving me the directions to this house with north and south all mixed up. She didn’t know her east from west, as she was trying to explain to a pilot how to get there. After a while, she finally said, “You just stay put, I’ll be right over to drive you and your wife to the house, I’ll be there in ten minutes.” So for the next ten minutes I assured my wife that we owed it to her for all her hard work to go and see “just one more house”.

She did say the house was in Richland, which was only four miles away, and I knew every house in that town with a “for sale” sign, so I felt it was going to be yet another waste of time. As she turned onto Chestnut Street, I thought here again, I get to admire that prettiest house I ever saw. In fact, I just drove by it earlier that day and waved to the owner while he was cutting the grass. Well, as we were getting closer to this house, she started to slow down as if she knew I wanted to see it. But when she stopped the car right in front of this place, well...I was speechless. I asked, “This house is on the market?” She started with, “NO, but this is a friend of mine and he is almost finished building his new house, but ran out of money. He just called me an hour ago and asked if I could sell his house quick. When I asked him how much he needed, the number matched your budget exactly, so I thought of you. It’s not listed yet, so there’s no realtor fees, do you want to meet him?”

SOLD.

 Folks, it was like Jesus was sitting in that car with a huge smile on His face, I was just talking with Him about an hour ago. So I said, “Yes, I want to tell him SOLD, I don’t even need to see the house. I’ll buy it tonight.” My wife looked at me and thought I was crazy. She said, “I want to see the house, how can you be so sure?” You see, she didn’t know this story, and how many times I passed by and thought, “Lord, I’d like to have that house.” It wasn’t until later I shared all of this with her.

So yes people. I’m here to tell you that God wants the very best for us. He delights in giving us the desires of our hearts.

 This house, like my airplane, could have easily become another idol in my life. However, God had the assurance and freedom to give me this house because of what He taught me with that airplane. Matthew 6:33, “But seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” I believe this with all my heart. Psalm 37: 4 says, “Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”  Isn’t it interesting that just moments earlier, I was praying with my wife and telling God that our joy was complete in Christ, that we needed nothing more? You see, God could now trust me with the house of my desires without threat of His Lordship in my life.

So please keep Him first in your life, casting all your care to Him, because He cares for you.

BTW... It was a nice house.