The bad choices you make, build the cage of fear around you. It is a cage that is both impenetrable, and able to be opened quite easily if you face those choices.
Most won’t.
I have a quick parable today about my house sale and how it relates to fear.
We bought a house in a very desirable neighborhood. It’s not a money or status thing, it’s just a really good place to live. Great neighbors, great schools, safe, etc. Basically anyone in our town would want to live here. Most of the houses in the area have to go up from the asking price to get it. We bid down (slightly).
Why?
Because there was a foundation issue. Or was there?
In the disclosure of the house, there was a quote from a foundation company for a repair. Complete with diagrams of the house sagging an inch here and an inch there. Keep in mind, the house is old enough to be my grandfather. This is normal. Had a second opinion yesterday. No actual issue. When the guy that wants to sell you 5 figures of repair job won’t do it, you KNOW it’s not a problem.
So how did the issue of the foundation get planted so hard into the zeitgeist that it not only infected the sellers, but the literal hordes of buyers that came to see the house before we placed an offer?
A little bent piece of metal on the door frame. Let’s walk through the likely chain of event’s as we’ve been able to piece together.
Previous owners of the house make the choice to let themselves get out of shape. Thus the chore of climbing up a ladder to get to the gutters becomes intolerable. The three giant trees over the house shed a metric kiloton of leaves into the gutters every year for at least 5 years (I cleaned em, this is conservative). Clogged gutters leads to moisture issues in the home and the idea that something is wrong. Clogged gutters serve as a breeding ground for bugs and crawlies. Crawlies start to come in through the gaps around the front door. Owners try the “easy” fix of bending the flashing up on the inside of the door frame to close the gap. Flashing over time starts to warp from the abrasion and it clogs the door lock. Boom. House ruined.
Why?
Because Realtors are required by law to disclose to the buyers everything that has been disclosed to them. They don’t have to fact check it, they just have to report what was disclosed. Frequently big items like a foundation repair are disclosed up front, that way you don’t waste 45 minutes selling a home that the husband will pass on because he doesn’t want to do the repair.
This plays out in real time as a real estate agent, ours included, is standing at the front door struggling to get it to open. For somewhere between 1 and 3 minutes they are messing with this lock and key. Disclosing a foundation issue. What happens when a foundation cracks? The doors go off level and become hard to open. So you have an agent and 2 buyers standing at the door getting colder and colder feet about how slanted this house is going to be just to walk inside and smell moisture.
Any rational person not sent under the sign of Jonah to buy the house is going to turn tail and run. Which is what everyone did.
Except us.
I ripped the piece of flashing off the door 2 days after we moved in and it opens and closes fine. Literally their decision to bend a piece of metal planted the idea of a cracked foundation in their mind so hard it took root. It became so real they investigated a repair, which they didn’t want to pay for, which caused them to want to sell the house. Then the bent metal scared so many buyers away, it turned an asset in an up market into a liability for them.
It’s pretty funny all and all, but we all have that piece of metal in our minds. We all have a fear that doesn’t exist, but is so real to us we make bad decisions. I freaked out about our business so hard that I started a second business that failed, and then a year later I went and got a job for like a week. There was no danger, but I MADE the danger in my mind.
What fears are binding you? No spirit of fear is sent by the Lord. If Fear is controlling your decisions, it’s a demon. Pray for wisdom and strength and make decisions out of hope, love, compassion or glory for the Kingdom. Don’t let the bent metal in your mind ruin your life. Be free!