Interactions with God #101

Aside from the strange neighbors we had while in the rental house, we also watched the home values climb drastically. Knowing that as they climbed, the odds of us ever getting a house again were becoming smaller and smaller. God laughs at “the odds”.

In early 2004, we were coming up on the two year mark of being in that rental house. As I said in an Interaction earlier, we did come out ahead when we sold the house in Cave Creek. We bought the house for about $235,000 and sold it for around $290,000. Of course, that profit is what we had to live on during much of that year and a half lay-off. It was all long gone.

On a whim, I looked at house prices. They were rather discouraging. The prices had gone up astronomically. There was no way we could afford a house again. Though I was working at IconMedialab, my pay was still much less than it was when I worked for iPlanet. Martha had started to work for a temp agency called Stivers. Stivers was a great company for her. They gave her fairly steady work, but the pay was not real high. At the current prices, even with our combined income, buying a house was out of the question. Just to give you an idea of the rate of increase; in my house price search, I found that our old house was for sale again…for $850,000. Yea, I think I cried after I saw that.

Fortunately, God does laugh at the odds. Look, it doesn’t matter who YOU are. He is GOD. If He wanted, He could make you President of the United States tomorrow. Yes, I know, there are quite a few people, who don’t even know you, that would be thrilled if He did that…

I think it was in April or May of 2004. I came across an ad for a house, in what they called the Desert Foothills area. It was just a bit west of Cave Creek. The house was only 1200 square feet, but it had an acre and a quarter of land…for $219,000. I called. I thought it had to be a mistake. Land alone was running for $250,000 an acre at the time. The realtor, who answered, was the owner. Apparently, she and her husband bought the house about six months prior. It had been trashed. She was having a great deal of work being done on it. They basically had to gut the house and rebuild the inside. Because of the investment, she wanted to turn the house into a sale quickly. Martha and I drove by the house. We loved the location. We gave her an offer of $209,000. She accepted!

Getting a loan was an issue. I had to write a long drawn out explanation of why my job situation looked so bad. Finally, a loan officer gave the loan the approval we needed. We bought a house again!

We moved in the first week of June of 2004. A week later, Patrick called to tell me that our management had decided to scrap the Enterprise Java effort. My last day of work for IconMedialab was that day. I got a two week severance. Patrick had done his best, but there was nothing more that he could do.

Job 1:21 (NIV)

20 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship 21 and said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”

I really understand this verse.