Flood, Fire or Foreclosure? How did you lose your home?

I remember the Katrina nightmare. I refer to it as a nightmare, even though it wasn't my personal nightmare. Mine was coming, only not thru terrential rains resulting in a flood. This national nightmare didn't become personal for me until several months later. At the Katrina time, I think I viewed it more of an isolated event. Those poor people lost their houses and now they have to start over. My church gathered up a bunch of people and flew out to help rebuild. I confess that my compassion was not large enough to overcome my fear of FLYING to go out and help. I know, it's so pathetic. I wanted to go and didn't go. I hate it when fear gets the best of me.

I think that Katrina was the beginning of a certain type of phenomenon that continues in our nation even today. I am not sure if phenomenon is even the right word but that's what I will call it and just hope you understand. If you consider how many people lost their homes then and how many have lost their homes since then. When I say "home", I don't mean they necessarily owned their home. That doesn't matter. I mean they lost the placed that they lived and breathed. They lost the place where they fought and love and forgave. They lost the place where their kids slept and their in-laws came over for Thanksgiving. They lost photos and fine china and untold treasures. That's what I mean when I say they lost their home.

Not many months after, my Katrina came. I had a mortgage payment that had continually climbed and an income that was decreasing rapidly. I did what I could to save my 5 bedroom, 3.5 bath, almost 3,000 sq ft home next to the golf course in Folsom, California. Every night for about nine months before the bank actually took the home back, I wracked my brain for a way I could stay. I loved my house. I had worked very hard to buy it and I was working very hard to maintain it.

My son took part of the garage and made it his music studio. He played the drums and guitar. He would have his friends over and they would jam together. Honestly, they sounded like a bona fide rock band!

Many times, my 4 year old niece would come and spend the night. She liked to catch the frogs that were found in my backyard. She would get a jar and with her bare hands pick up each and every frog she found and then put it in the jar. One night, she found 10. She would then feed them and give them water and name them. Because we found so many, we would take a walk to the local pond and deposit them there so that they would not be taking over my backyard.

I have a half sister that I met during that time. She was in the police academy near my home and she needed a place to stay on the weekends. She would arrive on Friday night and leave on Sunday evening. I was amazed at how beautiful and how smart she was. She was not raised by my Dad and actually had NO Dad growing up. No male figure in her life and she managed to still be stable, grounded, loving and ambitious.

These are just small glimpses of why I loved my house. There is more but I am pretty sure you get the picture.

I came to the reality that there was no way I would be able to keep the home, just less than 30 days before the bank sold it. I have gained some perspective since then, but at the time, it was the most devestating thing that could have happened. I was an emotional wreck, to say the least. The feelings of despair and failure were sometimes overwhelming. To this day, I am not sure how I got thru it. I just know that I did get thru it.

I am one of those people who thinks that there is a divine purpose to everything. I do not profess to KNOW that divine purpose. I only know what I have learned since then. The biggest thing has to do with treasure.

For so long, I believed that I treasured the house. And on some level, yes that is true. Yet, when I really boil it down to the brass tax of the matter, it doesn't turn out to be the house itself that I treasured. And that's a good thing too! Consider this:

21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Mathew 6:21

If I treasured the house but then lost the house would that then mean I lost my heart too? What a bummer that would be! Or, if my house burned down would that mean that my heart burned up too? If this is true, it's not looking too good for those of us who have lost our homes to flood, foreclosure or fire.

Luckily for me, I had a lot of time on my hands to get to the bottom of that which my heart ACTUALLY treasured. It wasn't the house. Not even close. It was what happened in the house. It was the people who came to the house. It was the giving and sharing and yelling and crying and laughing. The house wasn't IT. The house framed IT but it wasn't IT. Just like a photograph where the frame has been broken but the memory remains in tact. So it is with the house. I still have every memory and each person I mentioned still remains and vital part of my life. We found a new frame and continue to treasure each other. Those treasures, as far as I can tell are absolutely eternal:

But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. Mathew 6:20

The bible is already a complete book. However I think if it said where fire or flood or foreclosure do not destroy... nevermind.

The real treasures in life are held for me by God in heaven.

Suffice to say, I didn't gain the perspective immediately. I understand that not everyone holds it now. Many people are losing their homes and so I aware of the multitude of emotions surrounding that event. Everyone has their story. Thank you for reading mine and I would love to hear yours.

Together we can help each other
Keep it in Perspective