House Hunting

I didn't find a house I was ready to buy on this week's trip to Mobile. For the short term, I'll be renting the upstairs of a beautiful old house -- more on that later. In the meantime, I have been reflecting on the questions I found myself asking about each house I saw -- questions that are concerned not only with the strength and structure of the house, but with the potential for making that house a home. 


Can I hear church bells when the windows are open?
How will it feel to walk barefoot through the hall?
Can I walk or bike anywhere interesting from here?
Does it have a porch? How many friends can I fit on the porch?
Will I hear train whistles as I drift to sleep? 
Will students be able to stop by without too much trouble?
Will I know my neighbors?
Where will I plant the garden? Could I add a fruit tree to the yard?
What churches are nearby?
How old are the trees?
Is it safe? 
Has it withstood storms in the past? 
Where will my friends sleep when they come to visit? 

What questions do you ask when searching for a new place to make your own?

The Bay of the Holy Spirit

Today was a homeless Sabbath. Instead of singing hymns from a familiar pew, I spent the morning behind the wheel of my Honda Accord, praising God for unbelievably light traffic as we headed east out of Houston. As we drove, my mother and I discussed many of the details surrounding this trip we are making in order to settle the question of where I will live when I move to Alabama this summer. This is an exciting topic, but hardly a restful one.

At the Alabama Welcome Center, I collected an array of brochures and pamphlets about this new part of the world I will call home. I was most intrigued by a picture of a historical marker with "The Bay of the Holy Spirit" engraved at the top. It told of sixteenth-century Spanish explorers who returned from their adventures with tales of a haven they had named "The Bay of the Holy Spirit." Later explorers concluded that the Bay of Mobile is this harbor. After miles of signs for gun shows, adult superstores, and casinos along I-10, this  story startled me. How fitting, in these early days after Pentecost, to travel to the Bay of the Holy Spirit to seek my home. I want to make my haven in a place that is fable-come-true, consecrated to the Comforter.

Now let's see if I can figure out a way to explain that to a realtor.....

Public Domain image by Harry Davis