One week ago today we listed our house for sale. Within 48 hours of doing so we had 20 potential buyers through our house and half of them submitted formal offers. We were under contract by Thursday evening. And while that contract was cancelled yesterday, today we seem to picking up right where we left off… showings all throughout the day today as well. But none of that is what this post is about. You need to know why this is (not) just a house.

Actually both statements have some truth in them… this is just a house… and this is not just a house. That is why I elected to put the “not” in parentheses. I can be a stubborn old cuss and until very recently I only believed the first version. It took one of my kids to set me straight.

When we prepared to move to Georgia more than five years ago we looked for a place that could be more than our place of residence. We stretched as far as we could financially to purchase a place that would be suitable for our family of five and allow us to begin a church and become a landing place for our kids’ friends. 3487 Lori Lane checked all the boxes, as they say. Literally hundreds of people have been in our house… and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

So as the church closed and our financial picture began to change, the reality that we might lose our home became much more present than future. Initially I think I was choosing only to think of it as a house because it was easier that way. “Sticks and bricks”, I would say. Even the above commentary I have given you already says that it was more… but I wasn’t seeing it that way (yet).

So how has it been more than a house? Well, in addition to the ways I’ve already mentioned, there are several other things that my kids have helped me learn. Especially in the early days when we didn’t know many people, we knew each other… and we knew the house. The fact is, it was the only thing familiar in those early days. And then as all of us began making friends, our prayers were answered and our house became that landing place. Honestly, I don’t think any one week passed without us having guests in our house. Parties and dinners and Movies On the House and Super Bowls and debate watching and out of town guests and way too many sleepovers to count. My eyes are welling up now as I type. They are happy tears. Tears of thankfulness that God sometimes (often) teaches us our greatest lessons through our children. This house will forever hold countless memories of friendship and laughter and love. Is it just a house? Of course it is. And it’s not just a house as well.