This is too big to not mention… how awesome is our God? On a regular basis I make it a priority to spend time either walking or running (quite literally) the streets of my community, the South Side. It does a few things for me… 1) provides time to “view” the neighborhood from a much slower perspective (you really notice things that you don’t otherwise see if you are simply driving by in your car); 2) it helps me both meet new neighbors as well as see people I already know (just today I was stopped by three different neighbors to converse with that I rarely see); 3) my eyes are opened to both see opportunities and needs in the community, as well as things for which to praise Him; and lastly, 4) it helps me to remember how to pray.
Several weeks back I was walking down Buchanan Street. Have you ever been there? Right behind State Avenue (going toward Orchard Elementary) by Jackson Avenue? I venture to suggest that this street is by far the most “unsightly” street of our city. Coming from the ghetto of Memphis, Tennessee it is fair to say that Buchanan is par for the course for a bad street in Memphis. Just this summer CLDI completed the renovation of a house on this street that now serves as the home of a young, newly-wed couple. They chose to live on this street so as to be the Light of Jesus. As I was walking by I noticed something I had never noticed before (probably because I was speeding by in my car) – an empty lot that was for sale. Immediately I thought to myself, “How can we get this lot so as to build a house and move another Jesus-loving family onto the street?” My philosophy (and theology for that matter) is such that we, as disciples of Jesus, are to be Light in dark places. What better place to do this than Buchanan Street? I also know that it will take more than the work of CLDI and our church to bring about change in this street. It will take the Holy Spirit doing a mighty work though His people who invest daily on that street because it is their street, the place they call home. I often refer to this as “incarnational ministry”… ministering to those you live among, in the flesh. Hmmm… sounds vaguely familiar, doesn’t it?
Being relatively new to Billings and still trying to figure my role in providing for our staff at CLDI, I had no idea where we could come up with the extra finances to purchase this lot. To be honest, I didn’t even know how much it cost; I just prayed. A few days later I was contacted by email via our website. A woman, whose name I will leave out, emailed to tell me that her mother recently passed away and that she was serving as the Trustee for the estate. Part of this estate was a piece of property, an empty lot on Buchanan Street, the very one a few days prior I had prayed that the Lord might somehow entrust in our possession. She emailed to say that her mother had held on to the property all this time for sentimental reasons as it had once been the place she called home as a small child. Eventually the house burned down and now an empty lot sat there, for years, with a small garage and old worn out car. At some point in time the mother had commented on her respect for the work of Dave Hagstrom and CLDI, so much so that her daughter was now approaching me to see if CLDI would be interested in the property!
I will confess that when I first read her email I thought, “Yes, not only are we going to get the property but it is going to be donated to us!” With much excited I responded and said that of course I would love to talk and hear what this Trustee had in mind. However, my hope soon dwindled as I learned that, due to the estate (and another heir involved in the process), they could not “gift” the property to CLDI but that it had to be sold for legal purposes at fair market price, which was nearly $25,000. Fortunately for me I was heading out of town for a week with my family (a place where my cell phone didn’t have service) so I had time to consider what the Lord might be doing. During that time, the Trustee, who I assumed was also a follower of Jesus, remained in contact as her hope was for us to be able to fulfill her mother’s wishes and use this property for good to bring about change on that street and in our community. Coming back from our trip, this was my leading as well, and it just so happened that our church had $15,000 sitting in the bank for a very similar project. After much prayer and discussion with others I made an offer on the property for $15,000, the amount I knew we had in the bank. To my delight I received the following email the next day,
Hi Eric, I got the offer from my realtor last night at 9pm. I had to get a hold of the other heir since the amount was so far low from what he expected. I have to pay him the difference, but the gist of the story is that the offer is signed and with my realtor. And a house will go there instead of a parking lot! Yay!
To my amazement and praise of God, we purchased the lot for $15,000! Not only did God move to bring this lot to my attention, but so also did He move the Trustee to approach CLDI about the property and to be incredibly generous and sacrifice her own financial gain for the sake of what God is doing in the neighborhood. And between the time of negotiations and closing on the property, God has moved in the hearts of another Jesus-loving family to represent the Light of Christ as they build a house and call home on a street that very few of us would desire to live, let alone drive down. Though I am not surprised by these recent events, how my heart rejoices in the affirmation that HE IS LORD! I have great hope and confidence that just as the Lord provided us both this lot and a family with a vision for this street, so will it be by God’s grace that three, maybe five years from now we will be able to look back and notice the tangible change that has come upon this street through ministry in the flesh, just as Christ came to minister to us. Praise be to God!
Eric Basye
December 2011
