Serendipidous

When I use the word serendipity,  I mean a sort of unexpected coincidence.   It is a coincidence that seems unlikely, and completely unexpected.  One has to be in just the right place at the right time.  I've had many such incidences in my life where just the right circumstances line up to produce a moment of serendipity.  I had such a moment today.

Today I preached at Homer Avenue church.  After church, a couple came up to me and asked if I recognized them.  Their faces did look familiar, but I guessed they were from far back in my life.  Then they identified themselves as being from the church we had attended some twenty plus years ago. I did recognize the name, which I had heard before.

Then they said,  "We have some news!"   I could not imagine what in the world was coming, as this was a couple I had not really known personally, and had not seen in more than twenty years.  Then they added:  "Our son just bought 15 Ocean Drive."   It took a moment for my brain to register that address.  We have lived at quite a few different addresses, and that one did not immediately ring a bell.   Then it dawned on me!  That is the house that we built in the woods, high upon a hill, our retreat house.   It was a private place where I could go to get away from the demands of ministry.  It was small,  but absolutely beautiful in its own way.   We created it with great care and loving attention to detail.  We did get to use it a little bit,  but then we loaned it to daughter and son-in-law, who lived in it for several years.

We sold the house four years ago to a young couple before we bought our retirement home here. It was never intended to be our retirement home.  Our buyer was a graduate student, so obviously he has now completed his studies and moved on.  That house has our imprint in every cell of its being.  We designed it, had the outside shell put up.  Gerry did most of the inside work,  including building a huge deck that wrapped around two sides.  It has hardwood floors and a wood burning stove. It is tucked into the trees in such a way that it feels like a tree house.  There's even a plaque attached to a post by the front door that says:
A house is built of walls and beams, but a home is built of love and dreams.
  I do trust that is still there.

What a surprise to learn of our retreat house having new owners.  According to the parents,  they are loving it.  Perhaps the reason why I did not immediately recognize the address is that---ironically, we never got to live there!

Still, we have great affection for what we created there in the woods!

(The house pictured below is not our retreat house, but has some of the same feel and look.)