The Vacant House

The house had been vacant for months. As I drove by it everyday, I couldn't help but notice it's creepyness as it sat in a heap of aloneness. There was a mattress on the driveway and the biggest spider web and spider stretched across the open garage. I looked at that house every day. I wondered about it...How does a house just end up empty with nothing but a mattress in the front yard? I couldn't drive by that house without feeling strangely scared and uneasy. I just didn't like the feel of it.

One day I noticed a difference in the house. The spider web disappeared and soon enough the mattress disappeared too. Gradually I stopped getting the spooks as I drove by that old house. I began seeing a family. Two little boys who rode their tricycle in the driveway and a woman who worked hard to get the weeds from the front yard. I saw the man of the house taking many smoke breaks, in fact everytime I drove by. The vacant house had become a home, and I felt peace about that old house...Until tonight.

As I drove home, a police car whizzed by me with deafening sirens and I pitied the person he was after. As I drove down the road that leads me home I saw the bright lights and knew it had stopped at the house I had grown strangely fond of. What was going on that needed a police officer's attention? I'll never know, though I'll never forget what I saw. As I drove by the cop was jumping out of his car. That woman, who spent many hours in that same yard was standing with her two little boys at the bottome of her driveway. The smallest boy, only a toddler was wearing her sweatshirt. The older boy, porbably around 7 was only wearing his underwear. What happened in that house tonight that resulted in the woman rushing her half dressed children to the road? And where was the dad? Did he do something to those boys? I couldn't help but stare as I drove by, looking at that boy with no clothes on in 50 degree weather. My mind rushes through all the possibilities of what may have happened. I lift my prayers tonight to that family, to those children, that mother, and the house that I have ultimately cared for.

Times by Tenth Avenue North

This is a song by the band Tenth Avenue North. I love the words. If you haven't listened to it before, check it out! It touches my heart.

I know I need You
I need to love You
I love to see You, but it's been so long
I long to feel You
I feel this need for You
And I need to hear You, is that so wrong?

Now You pull me near You
When we're close, I fear You
Still I'm afraid to tell You, all that I've done
Are You done forgiving?
Oh can You look past my pretending?
Lord, I'm so tired of defending, what I've become
What have I become?


I hear You say,
"My love is over. It's underneath.
It's inside. It's in between.
The times you doubt Me, when you can't feel.
The times that you question, 'Is this for real? '
The times you're broken.
The times that you mend.
The times that you hate Me, and the times that you bend.
Well, My love is over, it's underneath.
It's inside, it's in between.
These times you're healing, and when your heart breaks.
The times that you feel like you're falling from grace.
The times you're hurting.
The times that you heal.
The times you go hungry, and are tempted to steal.
The times of confusion, in chaos and pain.
I'm there in your sorrow, under the weight of your shame.
I'm there through your heartache.
I'm there in the storm.
My love I will keep you, by My pow'r alone.
I don't care where you fall, where you have been.
I'll never forsake you, My love never ends.
It never ends."