Basically revisiting the issue

After a day of disappointment and the cathartic act of writing the last blog, I thought that I had gotten over the house next door. But, it's been a long time since things have been that easy. Last night on our Valentine's date of 35 cent wing night at Buffalo Wild Wing's, we ran into the couple to whom we had suggested the house. It seems as if there may have been some unethical, maybe even illegal (but I don't really understand all those real estate laws), acts that led to the house being sold so quickly. They definitely shared in our disappointment and frustration. While it is nice to have friends who understand, during the conversation, I found myself filling right back up with all the bitterness that I had thought was behind me. It was easy to feed off of one another and think of all the things we could do to try to right all the wrongs that occurred in the deal. I came home stewing over the house and all the ways we had been treated unfairly.

Sunday I was able to wonder if the house was sold so quickly because maybe God did not want us to buy it. But surely the unethical way in which this deal was made is not the way that God works. Is it?

(There's more....)I was unable to get the ideas out of my head, leading to a night without much sleep, which is a little tough when I have to be at work at 4:30 every morning these days. But I guess all that thinking has led me to hopefully a better place today. I tried to take my thoughts back to scripture today, and I found myself thinking about all the stories in the Bible where well intentioned people have been unfairly treated. In particular the story of Joseph being abandoned by his brothers to slavery and imprisonment in Egypt. Here is a beautiful example of a faithful man of God choosing not to waste his energies trying to prove all the ways he was mistreated. Instead he chose faithfulness, humility, love, and service in all circumstances.

Did God want us to buy the house next door? I don't know. Did God want Joseph to be imprisoned in Egypt for many years? Again, I don't know. These things are complex and more than I am able to comprehend. What I do understand is basic. None of these events are really about me at all. In a fallen world things happen that are unfair and can hurt me. I can choose to respond to that by focusing on myself, or I can choose to respond to that by focusing on Christ and His Kingdom purposes and acting accordingly. I do trust that God can give us the strength to do that.

Brad has been leading us in studying Colossians in our Sunday morning fellowships this month. I have only made it to one Sunday, but I do remember this verse read from the Message:

We teach in a spirit of profound common sense so that we can bring each person to maturity. To be mature is to be basic. Christ! No more, no less. That's what I'm working so hard at day after day, year after year, doing my best with the energy God so generously gives me. (Colossians 1:28-29)

May God continue to give us the strength to be basic.