House Stories - Signs of God's Provision (v2)

(Note to the reader: the real names of my friends are not used herein)

“I’ve been trying to reach you for 2 days. You are not going to believe the story I have to share!”

She had no idea how even more amazing that story was about to become!

Here is a bit of backstory for context:

We met Glenn and Laurel in the early 90s when we lived in the St. Louis area. We were attending a church that sponsored a missionary training program in which the two of them were enrolled. We were all young marrieds with no kids. We instantly became friends and loved every moment we shared, despite busy lives that didn’t allow for much overlap. There were some amazing times shared over food and deep conversations. And some funny times too, like the time one couple found underwear accidentally left behind in a guest bed at the other couple’s apartment. (I’ll leave it to you to wonder whose it was.. :))

They trained for 3 years with their team. It was a time of excitement and learning, empowered by a strong belief in a missional future.

Until it wasn’t.

A few weeks before the team’s scheduled launch, we heard that one of the team leaders had announced he was quitting, that he no longer felt called to be a part of it. Long story short, the dream dissolved, and the entire team scattered. It was sad, but we all told ourselves (as did they) that it was far better to have it dissolve early versus later - which, of course, is both true and not particularly helpful for those hurting.

Glenn and Laurel moved out west somewhere after that, and in the busyness of life, we all lost track of each other. We had no idea how God planned to weave our lives together again.

At times, I wondered where they had landed and how they were doing. (For you youngsters reading along, this was well before cell phones, text messaging, and social media. Staying connected back then required more effort.)

That’s the backstory. Hold that thought, grab a coffee (always), and read on.

A lot had happened in our lives since Glenn and Laurel had moved away.

My exciting job as a rising technologist at Southwestern Bell had fizzled due to corporate reorg shuffles.
A despondent prayer asking for guidance on our 10th anniversary had begun a whirlwind of change culminating in an unexpected new role at Microsoft and a move to the West Coast
We had prepped and sold a house, an experience that had taught us much about God’s provision for those who choose to follow His guidance.

(You can read those stories on this blog elsewhere.)

Now, on the heels of all of that, we found ourselves living in a new state where we knew almost no one, working a new job, searching for a new church, and living in a small apartment with two very active boys.

Thus began chapter two of our house adventures: Find a new house in a high-growth, seller’s market characterized by bidding wars and offers above list price from desperate buyers.

Late 90s Seattle was exploding in growth at the time.

So, we prayed about it.

And, after so many recently-experienced reasons to believe (see my other posts for those stories), we prayed boldly, asking for God’s guidance and provision for the perfect house for us.

We prayed for a house that would be:

in a dead-end neighborhood or cul-de-sac (so our kids could play without fear of car traffic)
in a neighborhood with other kids to become friends and playmates of our own (this had been missing in St. Louis)
in a neighborhood with others to share our lives of faith, both fellow believers and not

After living in a furnished apartment for about a month and a LOT of house-hunting, our new agent found and showed us a beautiful house that aligned with our prayers.

It had only been on the market for a day when we tried to bid on it - only to discover we were a few hours too late and not even second in line. It had seemed perfect. We were bummed.

The second house she found for us was also great, and in a bit of house-hunting panic, we quickly put a bid on it - an action we regretted almost immediately because, upon reflection, we realized it did not match our prayed-for criteria. It was, in fact, on a busy road.

What had we done? Both of us felt the regret and sense of dread that comes with making decisions unaligned with one’s faith.

But all we could do at that point was pray that the sellers would not accept our offer.

So we did that.

As it turned out, they countered on something minor, undoubtedly thinking that it would not jeopardize the deal. Oops! We used their counter as an excuse to back out. We apologized and felt awful for the seller.

I’m sure our realtor thought we were nuts (perhaps a theme if you’ve read the house-sell post), but she was gracious and helpfully said, “It’s fine. There were 5 other families lined up behind you who wanted this house. It will sell quickly.”

The third house I found while driving around one afternoon by myself, and praying to see something (read: anything!) of interest. It had been on the market for roughly four hours when we met our agent there.

As we pulled up, our very bored, 5-year-old son, Levi, looked out the window and saw about 10 kids playing in the dead-end cul-de-sac. He immediately asked, “Can I go down there?” Over an hour later, when it was time to leave, we called his name and saw him emerge from the swarm of kids. Having never stepped foot into the house, he ran to the car and requested, “Can we buy this one, please?”

He got his wish.

In many ways, the house was a total God-send for our family of four.

There was room for us all and more to spare for family yet hoped for (we were thinking one more at the time, but the desire to try again for a girl yielded a final tally of boy, boy, boy, girl).

There was an amazing wooded area behind the house, which was a welcome change for this country-raised boy, plus the kids loved playing back there. Even better, a bit further back was a barely used railroad that ensured no one would ever build behind us.

The only bothersome thing was my commute to work.

It was a solid 45-minute drive both ways and more if anything went wrong in traffic. I had hoped not to spend 1 1/2 hours of every work day driving. To make matters worse, colleagues from work had asked, “Why did you choose to live so far out?” I tried to ignore it, but the reality was that it annoyed me to lose so much time while also working more than an 8-hour day in my new, challenging job.

Allowed to fester:

Little irks become annoyances

Annoyances become irritations

Irritations become disgruntlements.

Left unattended, soon you have a full-blown garden of weeds choking the life out of everything good. (Why the heck don’t the awesome plants grow like the weeds?) Regardless, Jesus warned his followers about the weeds of life in one of his parables.

So, one Sunday afternoon, after reflecting honestly on the weed garden about to get completely out of control in my heart, I decided to pray about it.

I prayed alone because I didn’t want to drag Jina down into the pit of ingratitude with me (a dumb decision, just being honest). It was nothing fancy. I simply acknowledged the amazing provision and blessings we were living in, the many prayers already answered, and asked God to help me and my attitude in the midst of it all.

And, because of my irritation-rooted doubts, I also asked:

“God, is this house truly where you wanted us to be? Or, did I just step in and solve it without waiting for you to show us the one we should have bought?”

I did this:

Despite finding it ‘accidentally’ so fresh on the market
Despite the price being a near perfect match for our budget
Despite the effortless process to buy it
Despite the confirmation from Levi (who had not voiced a preference for other potential houses)
Despite the house being “exactly” what we had prayed for

Doubts can do that to a person…

Even those richly blessed with so many answered prayers. I do take a bit of comfort in the fact that at least I was honest and resorted to prayer sooner versus later. It is important to acknowledge progress, even (read: especially) the small wins!

About two hours after I took my fears and doubts to God in prayer, our landline phone rang.

I answered it and heard, “Is this Gerald?” I answered, “Yes, who is calling, please?” This was a new phone number that, for sure, was not listed in any phone directories at that point. I wondered who the heck could be calling that knew my name.

It was Laurel. The same Laurel from my ‘hold-that-thought’ backstory above.

I was stunned. “Laurel? Whoa! How in the world? How did you find us? This number is brand new, and we just moved halfway across the country.”

She laughed and said with obvious excitement in her voice, “It wasn’t easy! I’ve been trying to find your phone number for the last 2 days. You are not going to believe the story I have to tell you!

She continued, “Do you, by chance, know where the train park is in Kirkland?”

I knew of exactly one park in the entire Seattle area - that one. It was quite literally the only park in the Seattle area that I would have recognized.

This was only true because the apartment that Microsoft had furnished for our family to live in until we found a house was 1/2 mile away from that park. It had become a popular ‘escape’ for when our kids (and their parents) were going stir crazy in the crowded apartment.

I responded that I did, in fact, know about that park and pretty much no other.

She continued, “Well, a couple of days ago, I was there because we are in town visiting my parents, and I thought my kids would enjoy it. While we were there, another woman showed up with her kids. As our kids played, she sat down on the same bench and began to talk to me. Her name was Siu. We quickly realized that neither of us frequented this park, I because we don’t live in WA, and she for reasons of her own. One thing led to another in the conversation, and before long, we realized that we shared a common faith.

“I’m not sure why, I guess because she was so easy to talk to, but before long, I had shared the entire story about how Glenn and I had thought we were meant to be part of a team doing mission work and how that had fallen apart, causing us to leave St. Louis with no idea what was next for our lives.”

Laurel then related that when she had mentioned St. Louis in her story, Siu had interjected, “Oh, that’s interesting, I just met a couple from St. Louis last week. They visited our church. Their names were Gerald and Jina Hinson.”

Laurel continued, “I gasped and said, ‘Siu, that’s incredible! We know them. We were close friends in St. Louis. But we had no idea they were living here now.’”

Cue up the chill bumps and standing hairs on Gerald’s arms. What the heck was going on?

I sensed that something big was unfolding. It was so palpable that my body was reacting to it physically.

Laurel continued, “What are the chances of this?!? That two women who never go to a specific park in the Seattle area (population 3 million at that time) would choose to take their kids to that same park on the same day at the same time… then would strike up a conversation wherein I would share a painful story that I rarely discuss with anyone much less a stranger - only to find out that she just met two of our friends who were part of that same story a week earlier - friends that I had no idea now lived in Seattle.

“I am freaking out, Gerald. I’ve spent the last 2 days trying to find someone who knew how to reach you so I could call you guys to share this!”

At this point in the conversation, we were both processing what was happening. Why would such a seemingly impossible event occur, if not for some bigger purpose?

But we were at a loss for any meaningful relevance to be found.

I remember calling out to Jina so she could join the conversation, and I put Laurel on the speaker. After Jina was brought up to speed, we invited Laurel to come over. We were excited to catch up with both her and Glenn. Laurel replied, “I wish we could, but it’s getting late and we have to drive back to CA tomorrow. But, after that crazy experience with Siu, I felt compelled to call you for another reason.

“You remember how our team fell apart in St. Louis? When we left there, we were devastated and felt completely lost.

“So we moved back out here and lived with my parents for about a year in Woodinville. Glenn found a job working in a local nursery, which was about a mile’s walk from my parents’ house. Every day, when walking to work, he passed a church building. He noticed it because the messages on their marquee weren’t cringy or cheesy like churches so often post.

“After several weeks of this, we decided to visit it even though we still felt very burned by all things ‘church’ after our disappointing experience in St. Louis.

“As we walked up to the door, we were greeted by a man and his wife who were just wonderful. It was as if they could see right through us and could feel how badly we were hurting. They took us to lunch that day and befriended us. Over the next year, we spent a lot of time with their family. Their love helped us to heal and get back on our feet.

“So, after meeting Siu at the park and realizing you now live here, I just knew I had to call you to tell you about them. I have no idea where you and Jina live, but trust me, you need to meet this family. You will love them. Oh, and they have three children named Erin, Laney, and…” At this point, Jina’s eyes widened, and she finished Laurel’s sentence with “and Michael” with a tone of certainty.

In response to Jina’s interruption, Laurel gasped. “How do you know that?”

The chill bumps were back in force, and the hairs on my arm were standing up like boot camp privates.

Jina continued, “Are your friends’ names John and June __?”

We heard Laurel scream, “Glenn, come here right now!”

Glenn joined his fully freaked-out wife, who then asked, “How could you possibly know that?”

I answered her, “Because John and June are our next-door neighbors.”

Then continued with, “I need to tell you all something else. This afternoon, two, maybe three hours ago at most, I prayed and asked God if this was truly the house we were supposed to buy. I’ve been struggling with my long commute and having a lot of doubts about our purchase. I told Him it would help me immensely to know for sure that He had led us to this house.

“Then you called with your park story and friend recommendation.”

Result? Four minds completely blown.

After that mind-blowing phone call, guess what?

Glenn and Laurel did come over. And, we all went next door to our mutual friends and told them the whole story. That unexpected reunion lasted into the wee hours of the night with a mix of tears, hugs, prayers, and gratitude.

It was one of the sweetest moments of our lives.

Consider this summary of facts:

Siu was one of the few people we had met at a church we had only recently visited
Laurel (visiting from CA) and Siu met in a park that neither frequented.
The two of them decided to talk, and chose ‘real’ talk versus the usual surface-level chatter parents mostly do at parks, which led to the realization that they shared a faith in God
Laurel made a decision, described by her as ‘highly unlikely’, to share a painful story from her past with a complete stranger
The seemingly random comment by Siu that she had just met a family from St. Louis, along with the fact that she remembered our names having just met us, and her choice to share that with Laurel after the latter had only mentioned St. Louis in passing in the conversation
Laurel’s ‘unshakable feeling’ that she had to find our number so she could call to ask us to meet their friends
Those same friends turning out to be our next-door neighbors, whom we had already met. (Having just moved in, we still did not know numerous people in our neighborhood)
How we found the house in the first place (me just driving around), that it was an answer to all we had prayed for, and that it was our 3rd attempt to purchase
The fact that the phone call from Laurel happened < 3 hours after my very specific prayer asking God to confirm if we had bought the right house

Would anyone like to do the math on the combined probability of this series of ‘coincidences’?

Yeah, don’t bother. This was not an impossible coincidence. It was an answer to my prayer.

Sometimes it feels like God is that parent saying, “See it? No, there. No, there. No, there. Oh, for Pete’s sake!” then grabbing their child’s head with both hands and forcing them to look at that big fat sign right in front of their noses.

Thankfully, He is patient, and even we slow-learners can get a clue and stop missing the obvious.

One of the lessons I have learned is this: When you pray, it is wise to pay close attention to the timing of things.

That random-feeling coincidence might not be random at all. Sometimes, as in Laurel’s (and Siu’s) case at the park, it is God intervening in our lives because He cares about us. Do you ever wonder how often He does this without us even noticing? I do.

Another lesson?

God commonly redeems (read: uses later in powerful ways) the hardest parts of our lives - those times of greatest disappointment or sorrow or challenge - in all sorts of beautiful ways.

Sometimes for us. Sometimes for others. Usually both. What a gift!

God exists. He answers prayers. He cares about us, including the little details that we have been trained to think are not ‘spiritual’ in nature or worthy of his time. He has left many signs showing us the path.

Why?

So we will follow Him.

Acts 17 - “His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us.”

I love that translation.. “perhaps ‘feel’ their way toward him and find him”. Doesn’t that perfectly describe us and our experience?

Mark 16 says, “and these signs shall follow those who believe.”

Some signs help us drive and not get lost. Or, to become un-lost.
Some signs help us to live and not get lost. Or, to become un-lost.

Those signs pointing us to God didn’t stop happening in the 1st century.

Our shared story with Glenn and Laurel is just a modern example of the ‘signs’ as predicted by Jesus in the book of Mark.

Signs, the likes of which God has been leaving on people’s paths for centuries, to help us navigate life and find truth. Find Him.

It is in that spirit that I share this crazy story about how God used Laurel’s simple desire to be a good mom for her kids to answer my depressed prayer, and to deepen each of ours faith.

I share it here because I want you to have faith and to know God like we do. And part of that is us all sharing our stories with each other - a lot more than has become our habit in these modern, sometimes discouraging times.

This experience became one of numerous ‘anchors’ in my and Jina’s lives - and such anchors are important because they remind us to have courage when times are hard. They help us to deeply know, with confidence, that God is with us every step of the way.

Dare to seek God. Don’t be passive. Engage with Him. Ask Him to reveal Himself to you - ask Him to help you see His many signs that you may be missing.

God delights in delighting us and is 100% ok with our struggles and doubts as we stumble down this path called life.

Engage, then watch for His signs.

-Gerald (thus far)