A little reminder to live humbly, because our lives are but a mist. We had moved to a Georgia town to engage in my first ministry out of seminary. The congregation was very kind and welcomed us well and the students and leaders in ministry were exceptional. One lady graciously let us live in her pool house until we could find a house to buy. We found a house that would satisfy all of the most important Real Estate factors that we had heard from my mother, who was a real estate agent who repeated: “The most important factor in real estate is: Location, Location, Location!” My father-in-law was also an expert house hunter who had bought several houses as a corporate nomad. God, and our parents' experiences had led us to wait patiently to buy a house while in seminary that was in the right place at the right price. We gave it some cosmetic TLC and realized a little equity in the couple of years of owning the house. In our new town, there was a great home in an established neighborhood that was the best choice of location, however, we also looked at a new build in a yet to be established neighborhood. We were enamored with the shiny clean and brand new everything. It had all the modern upgrades. Against all the wise advice and God’s inner urging, in our arrogance, we bought the brand new house. We enjoyed the house for a short time. Unfortunately, when it was time to sell this house after I was called to another ministry, the location was not the right location, location, location. The house sat vacant for almost a year, and we had to keep paying a mortgage. We finally took a huge loss. Family, friends, and a church also sacrificially invested in trying to help us sell this house as we were a 1000 miles away. We couldn’t buy a house in our new city, because we were still tied to that house. We felt horrible. We knew the house God was leading us to buy, yet we said to ourselves, “we will buy this other one.” It was a painful lesson that injured several relationships with people who were special to us.
James the brother of Jesus, tells those in the early church to be humble and listen to God’s wisdom and advice. He tells them, “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”(James 4:13–17) We definitely missed the mark on that house, and learned some difficult lessons. Living in the real world and making decisions based on our own prideful desires, ended up hurting us in several ways. Though I was Christian, I acted like a nominal God follower, one who says I have a relationship with Jesus, but not listening to Him when He spoke to me. The painful consequences of ignoring God played out in our finances, our relationships, and even our ministry focus for the year of having the stress of an unsold house. Nothing happens in a vacuum, our sin affects us spiritually and relationally, but also with missed opportunities in our future. James reminds us to walk humbly with God, because our lives are like the Niagara Falls boat, we are (Made) of the Mist!
Hang in there people! God is glad to be with us! I’m praying for us all!