Sold the House

God knew all along....
I read in my Bible in the book of Acts that

From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live."


Where I live and where you live is no accident.  God is sovereign, and it says right there in Acts that He decides who lives where and when.  And I'm convinced that God has a hand in each real estate deal.

I went house shopping for my first house about a decade ago.  It was a scary experience.  I bought hastily because the prices were going up so much each year that I worried about being able to afford a house if I waited too long.  I lost bids on a few houses.  They were basically, move-in ready, so they sold quickly to folks who bid higher than the asking price.  Fixer-upper type houses stayed on the market a while.  We ended up buying one of those.  We bought a charming house, and even though the house needed work, it had lots of bedrooms, and a park-like yard.  It was going to take a lot of time and money to fix it up, but we were new at this, and didn't realize how much time and money it would take, so it was okay with us.  Duk-Sun and I were able to use those 5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms to take care of international students.  This was, I'm sure, all a part of God's plan.  He blessed us with the gifts of hospitality, service and teaching, and we are using all of our gifts, thanks to God's providence.

All through my childhood, my family had moved around and at each house and at each church, there were construction projects.  So I saw my father and other church members with tools in their hands a lot.  By the time I bought my first house, I was itching to try my hand at carpentry, plumbing, and electrical work.  Let's just say that remodeling a kitchen, a bathroom, and a sun room gives one a chance to try carpentry, plumbing, and electrical work!

But there is more to the story.  We didn't just finish all that work, then sell the house, then find another house.  Quite the contrary.  In the spring of 2008, were in a fix.  We felt that God was calling us to host and teach international students full time, but there were no schools within commuting distance that really had a vision to take in international students.  We had a house that needed time, work and money before we could sell it.  We had also found some schools that were willing and able to take in international students, but they were across town.

It was around this time that a friend who used to live nearby, but had moved to Canada stopped in for a visit.  We knew each other pretty well, because I had taught and tutored their children when they were still fairly new in the country some years back after they moved here from Japan.  Anyway, Duk-Sun and I briefly and casually explained our situation with her.  We had no idea she could help us, we just talked as friends.

Much to our surprise, a couple of weeks after her visit, she called and blew our minds.   She had talked to her husband and they had agreed to help us move across town.  They were going to buy a house that we would pick and we were going to live there, fix up our old house, either rent it out or sell it and continue from there.  They were typical middle-class people, but had made some money buying and selling houses on the west coast.  They gave to us so much more than we could ever imagine asking anybody--to tie up that much money in a house so far from where they were--it is still hard to believe.

I believe God was the One who laid it on their hearts to help us.  I have no other explanation.  I feel that He knew He wanted us in Marietta opening our home to these international students, so He moved them to do this.  It all seemed like a great idea.

Now comes the sticky part.  At the time our friends proposed this, I'm sure they were thinking the economy would not nosedive, but it did.  This put a strain on both our friends, and us.  Especially the second year, they needed rent money from us, but we had so many obligations, we often didn't have it to send to them.  I felt like a total jerk--like I was not making enough progress on the Doraville house, and meanwhile, my friends, who had been so generous to me were having to suffer on my behalf.  It was rather easy to beat myself up about it.

Although I know God is faithful, I was growing so impatient for Him to help us find a way out of the situation we were in.  He didn't make it easy.  I still had to balance family, church, work and my second job, which was working on the Doraville house all that time, but God did provide--in a big way, and here is how it transpired.

This summer, two and a half years after we moved out, I had finished all the remodeling jobs and the painting.  All that was left was to refinish the floors.  I placed a sign in the yard and on Craigslist and started looking for a tenant.  But to my dismay, I couldn't find anyone I wanted to trust with my house.  You get emotionally attached to a house like that--especially when you do so much work on it yourself.  I wanted a family to have that house that would appreciate it, take care of it, and add something to the neighborhood.  Well, just when I was getting serious about one rental applicant, a phone call came from the neighbor's wife's brother, Hector.  Hector said, "Mr. Paul.  Do you want to sell your house?  I have a loan, so I can buy it if we can agree on a price."  That was music to my ears.

The rest is history.  At a time when so many people cannot sell their house.  At a time when they get much less money than their home is worth, we got a fair price (for the market) and the new owners love the house, and we didn't even have to put it up for sale, and from the time we got it ready to sell to the time it sold was negligible.  And we can now fulfill our obligations to our friends.  Praise the Lord!  He has delivered us from the hand of the bad economy.


The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”
                                  Lamentations 3:22-24