A Home for the Holidays

I find the whole "home for the holidays" thing a bit ironic.  The main themes of the biblical Christmas stories are anything but, "home for the holidays"...

Jesus left his Father's home and was found as a homeless refugee baby, born on the streets of suburban Jerusalem.  The first ones to find him were a group of nomadic (read: homeless, "they were living in the fields" [related Greek words meaning: trapped, caught, or plain and uneducated]) sheep herders.  There were mystic worshipers that left their homeland as they packed up and set out on a quest across the desert.  Also Jesus' parents were uprooted from their hometown of Nazareth, only to return years later, after seeking political asylum in Egypt.

Like I said, anything but "home for the holidays".

So again I find it ironic (defined: outcome of events contrary to what was, or might have been, expected) that while our family was uprooted a year and a half ago, and has been searching for a home ever since, that God brought us a home for the holidays!

The house has been abandoned and is in pretty rough shape (missing a furnace, hot water heaters, electrical service, has a hole in the roof, and a couple rooms that need to be totally gutted), so the first week of the new year we begin rehabbing the place.  It is currently owned by a ministry that has been a key partner with the Church on Potomac Ave, and they rehabilitate abandoned homes in the area, while also employing folks from the neighborhood.  We'll be volunteering with them to work on the home until it is livable, at which time we'll be able to actually purchase the house.

Though the house currently lacks pleasing aesthetics, it also has a lot of good things going for it.  There are two units, so the Schenks (whom we rent from now) will also be moving with us to the new home, and thankfully helping us with the work as well!  It is two blocks from the Church's building on Potomac Ave.  It is on the street where we bought vacant lots to start urban farming.  And, a number of friends that have relocated into the neighborhood, live nearby.

It will be exciting to be a part of working on making this house our home.  As we've come to the West Side of Buffalo to experience and share the redemption Jesus offers, it seems only fitting that even in finding a place to call home we'll be participating in the work of redemption!

Wherever home is for you, may you also experience the work of redemption in your life this Christmas season.