New Houses

In the mid-1980’s our young family was growing and my wife and I began to pray about the potential of purchasing our first home.  We had been renting my Grandmother’s small two bedroom home from my parents after my Dad’s Mom had gone on to be with the Lord.  It was a wonderful home in a quant neighborhood with a large back yard.  The home had everything going for it except for the two bedrooms and a small one car garage.  At the time we had two children who shared one bedroom and were planning on having at least two or three more children in the near future.  My wife really wanted five kids, so we decided to just trust that the good Lord would let us know when our quiver was full! (See: Psalms 127:3-5)

The more that we put our feet to our faith, the clearer God’s direction came to us concerning the big step of home ownership.  During that time we spent the majority of our weekends piling the two kids in the back seat of my wife’s hot red Pontiac wagon and driving through the areas of town where new houses were being built.  It seemed that our hometown was expanding to the west and to the north, so that is where we focused our search.

After many months of looking at countless model homes and talking to a barrage of Real Estate agents, we put a deposit on a new home being constructed on the western border of Santa Rosa.  But neither my wife nor I had a complete peace about the home, even though we had a great Christian agent representing the housing tract, a floor plan that would work well for our growing family and a location near our church and the school that our home school program was associated with.  The final straw came as I trudged on a rainy day through the muddy lot we had selected, only to discover that our neighbors behind us had three large continuously barking Doberman Pinschers who loved to throw themselves against the fence when anyone came near! So after discussing it with my wife, we withdrew our deposit and continued our search.

Well, to make a long story short, a few months later we ended up finding a wonderful new housing tract that they were developing in a nice area north of town with a larger house and a larger backyard… and it was less expensive than the other houses we had considered!   It was the right house, in the right location, that we discovered and purchased at the right time!

I thought of all this as I was reading from John 14:1-2 this morning where Jesus stated: “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.  In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you.  I go to prepare a place for you.” (NKJV)  Our new home was located at the far border of the new subdivision near some small foothills.  When our home was completed and we finally moved in, there was still a lot of building going on all around us.  The sounds of hammers, electric saws, lumber trucks, and the construction crews yelling back and forth filled the air for months.

That must be similar to what goes on in heaven when the church is revived and fired up enough to go out and share the Good News of Jesus Christ to those around them. Jesus promised us that He would prepare a mansion for us, therefore with every new Christian there must necessarily come the building of a new house which continually expands the borders of heaven!  There is one big difference though, between the new housing tracts here on the earth and those in heaven.

Most new subdivisions, like the one we choose, only give the potential buyers a few choices of house styles and floor plans.  Our particular tract offered four different plans.  I believe that each house built in heaven will have a unique design that perfectly fits the desires of the new occupants when their time to move in comes.  And due to the lack of space considerations and unlimited lot size or acreage available, no home will look out of place or interfere with the view from any home!

Once again, Jesus’ words go to show how much our heavenly Father loves and cares for us, and how intimately He knows our every need, thought and desire!  He not only wants to help us through our daily lives during our stay here on earth, but also has plans for our eternal happiness and comfort once we move in with Him in His hometown!  I have to admit that thoughts like this tend to overwhelm my heart as I think about God’s concern for me.  It makes me want to share His Good News even more with others so that they too, can partake of His goodness!

How about you?  Have you ever considered what your “mansion” in heaven will look like?  I’m kind of leaning toward a modern two story log house with a stream running through the backyard (minus the Doberman Pinschers!) and a lake surrounded by towering Redwoods and Pines out front!  Hummmm… I can’t wait to ask others I meet if they’ve ever thought about their mansions in heaven!  Have a great day!  Stay in tune to His Word, and keep asking yourself… “What am I expecting today?”