To Walk Humbly With My Walking Buddies

Hyde Park, Tulsa, OK – I’m back in my beloved T-Town for a few days. What would a walk down Memory Lane be without my good friend who has walked with me here so many times in the past? We were among the firsts to purchase a lot and build here. Only big dirt piles and graded land were here when I purchased. We were risk takers. Who knew if all the promises made by the developer would come true? He kept his promise. It was a struggle in the beginning to entice people to move to this barren land that was adjacent to a “promised” mall nearby.

So what do walkers do to pitch in and help make the dream come true? We walked often around the community and we prayed for the buyers that would join us in our community. We prayed for supernatural publicity. We coined the phrase: “Hyde Park is Holy Property”. Today, we walk among the manifestation of our prayers. So many new homes have been built with so many great residents all over now. It's wonderful.

There is nothing like walking and talking about God's faithfulness. A good morning walk with a good friend, as the sun is rising, is beyond measure. It doesn't matter if we have some personal issues and need someone to listen, or if our job that day is to do the listening. It just seems a walk in God’s creation is the answer. We aren't there to get in a certain number of steps or see how many calories we can burn. We are simply there for the peace that comes from a walk. To slow down. To breathe. To talk. To listen. To love. To be loved.

I can’t help but think of these walks when I read this verse in Micah 6:8. “He has told you what is good and what the Lord requires of you: to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” Just as those morning walks are more than the steps, so is walking humbly with our God. The walk is about a relationship. He is our guide. And with Him as our guide, we know we are on the right path. If we are walking humbly with Him, staying in step, we form a beautiful bond that will guide us. We recognize it is not our will, but His that is best for us. What is before us is unknown to us, but not to Him. He leads. He shows the way. He is walking with us through it all. Through the good and the bad. Through thick and thin. Always. This isn’t just one nice walk. This is long term.

This is a relationship. A journey together. This is a commitment. Listen to Him. Depend on Him. His plans for us are far beyond what we could plan for ourselves. Even when it seems like it’s not, we humble ourselves and trust. Walking faithfully with God.. What an amazing way to live our lives. God is our constant walking companion. Let's ask ourselves the tough questions: Am I walking humbly with God? Am I walking humbly as Jesus walked? His humble walk is our example.

His Assets My Pleasure

Last week my trip to Tulsa included a visit with friends in the community I lived in prior to my move to Frisco. Sharon and I joined up for an early morning walk as we did so often when I lived there. We recalled praying for our community on those walks and called our Hyde Park, Holy Property. I’m amazed as I see the once barren land when I built my home, to where there are so many residents and beautiful homes built there today.

We met up with another neighbor, Deborah, whose husband recently passed away and she, like me, understands he completed his earth-assignment and now she knows she has her own assignment to fulfill. I knew a blog was on its way because her story inspired me so much.

Deborah’s dear husband suffered from Alzheimer's for many years which meant Deborah had to quit her full-time job to be at home to give him the care he needed. In that season, she started a home acquisition company where she buys homes, renovates and flips them shortly thereafter. Her acquisition company is called HAMP which is an acronym for “His Assets My Pleasure”. The name of her building and remodeling business is called Honey Bee Homes. She said: “It’s pure and natural.” The meaning of “Deborah” is Honey Bee. She said: “This is a restoration business just like Jesus had.”

Deborah meant it's a home AND people restoration business. “I bought a home in not such a great part of town. It needed a lot of attention, but I acquired it anyway. One day, a man riding a bike stopped by the house and asked if I needed help. She asked, “What is your expertise?” He replied, “I can do anything.” She gave him a tour of the house and all the things that needed to be done. What he couldn’t do, he said: “I have a friend that can do this part and another friend that can do that part.” She hired all three men. Only one had a vehicle – a beat-up truck that kept breaking down. One day it ran out of gas. Deborah got a gas container and took him the gas. The other two men rode bicycles. They helped her She helped them. Deborah said, “I took them crockpot meals, Krispy Kremes and I kept a left-over refrigerator stocked with water for them. I took lunch to them and sometimes I took them out to lunch. You could tell on their faces that they were really impressed – that I would take them to a nice restaurant.” These men had been in jail and with a record, it was difficult to find jobs. The restorer of homes and people, she gifted them with dignity and pride as they were completely willing to put in an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay.

Deborah said these men were raised in lifestyles where they had to learn and do everything. All from different descents and different expertise, they worked well together. The house had been abused and in such disrepair that they had to gut most of it -- taking out all the floors and putting in new joist and floors. During the winter it was so cold outside for the 8-mile bicycle rider who lived with his Mom. Deborah set him up with a heater and a bed in the home. It worked out well because in that part of town she needed someone to look over the house anyway.

She added: “I just sold the house last week. I bought it for $40,000 and sold it for $122,000. But I had a $100K in it and I was able to give them work. I loved Deborah’s “ashes to beauty” story. She could have been a widow who refused to live out her destiny. But she didn’t. She gave formerly incarcerated men jobs for the same reasons as everyone else: to support themselves and their loved ones, pursue life goals, and strengthen their communities. God has used her to live on purpose. She yielded to God’s words from Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” She knows those words for herself and for others.

We serve a God of restoration! You, too, may have had some disappointments or unfair things happen in your life; but instead of dwelling on the past and living in defeat, choose to focus on His promises because God wants to restore you with beauty for your ashes. He wants to restore your joy, your peace, your health, and your finances. Draw a line in the sand and say, “I am a child of the Most High God, and I’m not going to live my life in defeat. This is a new day, and I’m taking back what belongs to me!” That’s having a restoration mentality!

Indeed, like Jesus, Deborah is in the restoration business – restoring homes and people’s lives. Maybe that's the business we should all be in -- loving, caring and restoring the lives of God's precious children.