Let's Build Here

On a recent bike ride, my husband, Greg, and I decided to stop and take a closer look at the old house you see pictured here. This is on our favorite bicycling route on a remote county road near Reagan Wells, Texas, and we have been fascinated by this structure every time we've ridden past it.

As we stood at the fence looking across at this delapidated pile of aged wood and rusting tin, I was drawn into the scene and began to imagine what life was like for the residents, perhaps as much as a hundred years ago. Although small, the house was not built to be just a place to sleep and to barely exist. The broad porch stretching across the entire front of the home speaks of a family who sat outside and enjoyed one another's company each evening as the sun softly set. Many plans may have been made by the young couple who sat on that porch while children played nearby and birds sang in the trees all around.

Greg, being a homebuilder, commented on what an excellent choice of location these people made. He pointed out there is a draw that runs around the back of the house and down one side, while the structure itself is on a small rise. This would mean that when it rained, water would run through the draw and circumvent the house, leaving it safe and dry, and since the draw is on the back side of the house, this water would not prevent the residents from getting out to the road to go into town during a rainy spell. The mountain in the background provides a beautiful backdrop for the home as well as protecting it from wind, and the large live-oak tree right beside the house with a limb extending over the roof would provide shade from the scorching sun, making the interior of the house tremendously more tolerable during the long South-Texas summers.

I imagine that at one time, a young man and his lovely bride stood on this little knoll and said to one another, "Let's build here."

And so they did.

And the structure has stood all these years.

Counting the children raised within this structure and their descendants, how many people know this place as their beginning? How many farmers or ranchers got their start here and have helped feed a hungry world? How many school teachers found their prupose here? How many doctors, missionaries, soldiers...?

As we begin this new year, let's choose a good place to begin and say to one another, "Let's build here."

Let's build healthier relationships. Let's build supportive neighborhoods. Let's build better educational opportunities for our children. Let's build more loving churches and happier communities. Let's build something that will last, and let's build it right here.

Blessings on you and yours, and may 2025 be a year of building for all of us.

PS. Speaking of building, let's not forget the importance of building our children's faith in Jesus. All my books are designed to encourage children in their understanding of who our God is and of all he has done for us. Please take a moment to visit my website where you will see descriptions of my published books and even a few that are still in process. Start this year with plenty of good reading to draw your little ones closer to Jesus.

Click here to visit my website

PPS. COMING SOON! I'm formatting the fifth book in my Rhyming WORD Series and plan to make it available by the end of February or early March. I want parents to be able to have it in hand before Palm Sunday, which will be on April 13 this year. While waiting for this one to become available, why not go ahead and get the other four titles in this series and begin learning Bible events with your child through these wonderfully-illustrated stories written in lively rhyming verse. You can order all four in a bundle and save if you order directly from me. These books sell for $9.95 each on Amazon, but you can get all four for only $35 at the link below, and shipping is only $3.00! That's a $5.00 savings, so why not click on the link below and get yours today!

Click here to order The Rhyming WORD Series Bundle