In My Father’s House
On Saturday Ray and I went to a birthday party for James, our neighbor and friend. We have known James and his wife Patsy since we moved back home to Tennessee in 1993. They were part of the church where Ray preached when we came to the area. The party was a delight for many reasons. We loved visiting with many people we know and love, including three of James and Patsy’s grandsons who we watched grow up. We were once part of the same homeschool group.
The party took place at the home of James and Patsy’s son Chet and his wife Pam. Chet is my mama’s doctor. He’s been a blessing, too, since we first moved into this area. James recently finished building this home for Chet and Pam.
When we first moved here we lived a half hour away in Cookeville. James and Patsy lived there, too, then. They lived in a beautiful home James built for them there. Then, a few years after we moved here to Jackson County, James built them another home here and they became our neighbors.
James’ career was in industry, but he is also a godly man, a talented singer and musician, and a gifted woodworker. When he builds a home, it is a masterpiece — so are his handmade string instruments.
A few years ago, James told Chet, “I think I’ve got one more house in me.” Chet took his dad up on the offer. It was a joy on Saturday to celebrate James’ birthday and get a tour of the new house.
As we gathered in the kitchen to sing “Happy Birthday,” Chet related the story of his dad telling him he believed he had one more house in him. Chet compared that story with Jesus’ words:
Do not let your heart be troubled;
believe in God, believe also in Me.
In My Father’s house are many dwelling places;
if it were not so, I would have told you;
for I go to prepare a place for you.
If I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come again and receive you to Myself,
that where I am, there you may be also.
John 14:1-3
James grew up as the son of a sharecropper. He used the work ethic he learned from his godly parents to build a successful career in industry. That is only one reason he was able to build himself and his son a home on land where his father once worked as a sharecropper. James has the heart of a father, a father who loves his son. At almost eighty, he wanted to bless his son with a beautiful home in a beautiful place. Yes, this special birthday party was to celebrate James turning eighty.
Few of us can build an actual physical dwelling for our children, but we can still build them a home. We can live as godly examples. We can teach our child how to build a “Home Sweet Home” in his own future, whether that home be a rented apartment or a beautiful mansion. We can provide a childhood, so that children can know the reality of “no place like home.” They can leave our home with the skills they need to build their own.
Best of all, we can introduce our children to our Father who is building “many dwelling places.” In the words of one of my favorite hymns:
There’s a land that is fairer than day,
and by faith we can see it afar;
for the Father waits over the way
to prepare us a dwelling place there.
Refrain:
In the sweet by and by,
we shall meet on that beautiful shore.
In the sweet by and by,
we shall meet on that beautiful shore.
We shall sing on that beautiful shore
the melodious songs of the blest;
and our spirits shall sorrow no more,
not a sigh for the blessing of rest. [Refrain]
To our bountiful Father above
we will offer our tribute of praise
for the glorious gift of his love
and the blessings that hallow our days. [Refrain]
Jesus told us that one day the King will separate the sheep on His right from the goats on His left.
Then the King will say to those on His right,
“Come, you who are blessed of My Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you
from the foundation of the world.”Â
Matthew 25:34