A Sacred Place?

Welcome to our podcast, where we encourage you to look for opportunities in your life to see a beautiful view. I'm Candy.

And I'm Paul. Several weeks ago we hosted a group of seminary students in our home and they asked us a question that kind of stuck with us. They asked, is this place sacred today? We're going to talk about what that means and why it's important.

We look forward to sharing with you again today. So sit back, relax and enjoy the beautiful view.

Hello, welcome to the Beautiful View podcast. This week we want to give a big shout out to our newest members, Ashley A and Jeff W thank you so much.

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And thank you for joining us. It's been a super busy season for us, but we have had some fun and the weather has been absolutely beautiful.

Ohh, it really has. The fall is in full effect here. Just the the cool nights and very pleasant days. It's like patio weather, it's absolutely perfect.

I love it. I love it. Yeah, and the sun. Is still shining. And the all the leaves are turning and so the sun on the leaves is really pretty. Yep. I've been working a lot. I've been busy. Yes. So it's we've had some exciting things. Lots of busy days at the brewery this week. So that's really good. We had a you and me day this past week.

Uh-huh.

It's gorgeous.

You've been busy in your new escapade. Oh, that was fantastic.

We took a.

Little day trip down to yeah.

Davenport. Yeah, yeah. And right on the Mississippi River. Over there, we started off by having a meal together. We walked across the sky.

Bridge, which is really.

We did that was really neat.

Cool. Yeah. Yeah. So it's got some great views of the Mississippi from that Sky Bridge and also the city. Yeah, just it was a good.

Yeah.

It was fun. Yeah. And unfortunately, Tyler has been sick for the last couple of weeks, but we finally got him some meds. And so he's feeling better. It's nice to see him back to his.

He has. It's nice to see. And that to his usual self. And Emily has been involved with the local Arts Council.

Yeah, she she's done a couple of really cool things with them recently. She did a Bob Ross painting class one day, which was cool, and then she went on a bus trip with them to Chicago, to the Chicago Arts Institute. So that was really a fun time for her. So I'm excited for her to kind of get to mix with some people that.

Have the same artsy kind of, you know, interest as her, so.

Interesting. Yeah. Yeah. And I've. And getting ourselves ready for winter camping season is over, so I've been flushing the tanks on the RV and changing out all the water for antifreeze. I'm not quite there yet, but it's almost ready and I'm starting to look at the house as far as like what needs to be.

Mm-hmm. It is, yes.

Done to get ready for winter to come. So for snow to fall it is definitely coming and it will be a whole different thing outside like when it gets to down to like minus something you don't want to be outside working on anything. So we're gonna try and get it done now.

As as Nice as it has been, we know what's coming. Yeah. No, definitely not. So today we are going to discuss what a sacred place is and why it's important.

Yes. So over the summer, while you were in. Texas. Yes, I just out of the clear blue sky, I get this e-mail and it's really interesting the timing of it and everything it was, it wasn't something our minds were on, but a professor reached out to us.

Hmm.

From the University of Dubuque.

And she basically said that she was bringing her theology class into into town, into Bellevue. Yeah, to learn how we were doing local missions in a small town.

But we weren't the only place they visited.

No, that we weren't the only one they were coming into town for, they actually were. Here for two days. And they had visited churches in town, community efforts, community organizations, the food share. So they had been to several places. And I think we were probably the last stop.

Uh-huh. Yeah. I think we were the last stop.

That's right. Yeah. And so she was real curious and asked us if we wouldn't mind hosting the students in her class in our home. And to answer some questions about how we did missions in Bellevue. And so we kind of went from there.

Yeah. Yeah. So it was the Monday after we returned from Texas in early August that we hosted, I think it was maybe 18 or 19 students, something like that in our living and dining room. We pulled all of our chairs in our camp chairs and so they were very curious about.

It was a good little crowd. Every chair that we had was in here.

Kind of. Our philosophy of ministry and how that translates to the way that we Minister in this. Unity.

And when we talk about missions and ministry, I mean those are very sort of like christianese terms.

They are.

But basically what it means is is to get involved with the people in our community and to serve and to find ways to be a blessing to each other, right.

And to do life together, like, that's a. Big part of.

It is so after we shared our story of our our being adventures and how we ended up here in Bellevue. We started to talk a little bit about how we were involved in the Community and so then we opened the floor to questions from the students.

Yeah, which is always a little what are.

What are they gonna ask? I mean, these are theology students, so it could be something like, really intellectual. That's what I was worried about. They were gonna ask me something with a long word in it that.

They gonna? Yeah, I'm.

I understand.

Didn't know they didn't, though. They had great questions actually so.

Ohh no, they had very good questions. One of the students said that they had asked everyone they had spoken with that day the same question and the question.

Was is this place sacred?

I don't know that I had ever really thought about our home in that specific term, but my response was something like of course it is. I mean, we truly believe that God opened the door and provided this home.

For us so that we could be a part of and Minister to the needs of this Community.

Yes, he. Did.

Our heart has always been for ministry.

Yes. And I think for me, when I heard the word sacred and heard that in connection with our home, it was kind of like sacred is like this really big religious term that that I I, you know and it's like it would be more appropriate. I felt like it to to say is this.

A sacred as in a church sanctuary. Hmm. But we're talking about our home. So it caught me off guard a little bit, so I changed it to. Family as in set apart, and I felt like that was appropriate. Like we set apart our home and we had that same approach with our RV. 2. Mm-hmm. So the actual definition of the word sacred is connected with God or dedicated to a religious purpose.

For me it was more of a. Moment of realize. Nation, of course. I hope that this is the case, that our place is sacred. In other words, that's always our intention at the outset of any endeavor in our lives is to set each thing that we do in each place that we are aside for God. But I'm always aware that sometimes. My perception could be a little biased. However, this righteous challenge really confirmed our initial intent. And it was actually a very welcome question.

Yeah. So let's talk about this a little bit. I can remember another time where I felt like we were on kind of sacred ground. Do you remember the first time that we towed our RV to the place on our family land? I remember that we got the RV.

Yes.

Set up and we kind of gathered our little family together in a circle there in the middle and we just we prayed over it. And at that time.

We did, yeah.

We were at a place where we really needed a space to kind of rest and heal, and yeah, and that's exactly what we prayed for there. And that little piece of land out in the sticks of West, TX kind of became a sanctuary for us in a place of peace.

Yes, set aside from everything.

Yes.

Where we just. Kind of. We literally just landed. Mm-hmm.

Yeah, we rested. So essentially it became sacred ground from that point. It's where we began our journey of recovery, healing from trauma and where we reconnected with our savior and it's still sacred ground when we're back in San Angelo, we usually take that 40 minute drive out there.

And we just kind of like when whenever we go back and we drive down the road to the place and then when we get there, it's like ohh my goodness, this is like it's just a special feeling when you're.

Yeah.

There, you know, there's still evidence of our time when we stayed there, our lounge chairs are still sitting there in front of the barn.

Yeah. That was silly. Lounge chairs. We we got those things forever and they don't look very pretty anymore. But they're still there and we still sit on.

No, no. And and at some point, we're gonna sit in them and.

Them when we go there.

They're gonna collapse.

That's all.

But it's still like the the fire ring is still there. There's still the blocks for our V where we park it. Umm and tyler's. Well, well, one trench is still there. Where he he dug that out. That was funny. How he did that.

Yeah, yeah. Yes. Yeah. Ohh, he did? Yeah, he worked on that thing for a long time. Shoveled. Just shoveled it and.

A. Yeah, he wanted to dig a really big hole. And so he did. So we still. Feel very much connected to that land.

Yeah. And you know, this House in Bellevue, IA that God provided for us in December of 2021. Falls in that exact same category when I walk through the doors of this place, there is an instant peace.

It does, yeah.

Before we moved a single thing into this House and we arrived here in 2021, we came in the door. We stood in the living room, similar to how we did on the land. Yeah. And we prayed together.

Yeah.

On. Piece of wire.

We prayed for this home to be filled with love and laughter and light. We prayed that it might be a refuge not only for us but for others who need to feel those things too.

Yes.

Hmm.

I walked from room. Room up the stairs, prayed over each space and around the outside perimeter of the house. What do you remember about that day?

I remember it very clearly and I remember knowing that we needed to pray.

MHM.

This was going to be a challenge I didn't know yet how much of a challenge it would be, but it felt like the very first day on the mission. World.

There was something else that you had kind of a bee in your bonnet about. What was that you want to tell us about that?

So you don't see very many of them in town, but on a few houses there is a gas lamp, a lamp post that's out the front of the house. Apparently it was one of those optional extras way back in the day when the.

Mm-hmm.

The gas company came into town to install gas lines into houses. They offered an additional lamp post if you wanted it, and there are two or three still in.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Distance and ours was here, but it it was in need of repair. Yes. And so I was determined that as soon as we moved in as soon as possible, I was going to get that gas lamp electrified. Take the gas line out. Make it safe. Run electric to it and get it working again.

Mm-hmm. Right. Right.

Yeah, the fact that he was determined to light up the front of our house was not surprising to me at all. He didn't know this yet, but God had placed the word light on my heart for our word of the year. For the coming year. I like to think of our home as an embassy, both for our family and for others. An embassy is a tiny piece of the home country on foreign soil. In our case, we definitely feel a little bit like foreigners where British guy and a Texas girl sitting in Iowa. So there's that part of it, but we also believe that heaven is our ultimate home. So this entire world is foreign soil.

Yes. So when we think about the term embassy. What I immediately think of is my experience of the US Embassy in London, so the US embassy at the time was in Grovenor Square, which is less than a mile from Buckingham Palace, so you don't get much more British than that, right? It's actually moved since then, and it's actually in a in a building that's really interesting in a different part of London.

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

But back in the day, back in 2002.

Mm-hmm.

It was right there in Grovenor Square. The first clue that I had about being on foreign soil was the US Marines that were.

Mm-hmm.

Based all the. Way around the perimeter. Yeah, this just followed the 9/11 attacks. And so the obviously like the security was really high, but I still had this appointment.

It. Tight, yeah.

I needed to get to so I showed my letter, my appointment letter to the Marines, and they let me through. And so I yes, and I got inside. And from the moment I walked through the doors of the embassy.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Thank goodness.

Everything I saw, everything that I heard, the accents, and I swear I could even smell hot dogs there. Everything inside that building told me I was on US soil. Yeah, so maybe something of the same experience was what these students were sensing as they walked across the threshold of our house.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

And one of the first things we did when we first moved here was we began inviting people over for a meal. You know, people that. We kind of. Knew, but wanted to get to know a little bit better. There's something very special about sharing a meal together. In your home.

Yes there is.

We really should do more of that. Maybe when things slow down a little bit, well, hopefully things will slow down a little bit over the winter. Maybe one of the students, though, was so intrigued by.

We need to. We'll see. We'll see.

That you know. Concept of inviting someone that you don't know really well over to your home for a meal and she came up. She'd mentioned it a little bit, and when we were talking and she'd asked the question and like, but then she came up to us after the talk asking how exactly we went about doing this like.

How do you just ask someone to? So I just told her that, you know, we kind of decided who we wanted to ask and then we were just like, hey, we'd love to have you over for dinner sometime in the next couple of weeks. What day works best for you?

And you know that usually got a really good reception. Ohh. Yeah, that would. Be great, such and such day is best for us or whatever, and then we just.

Yeah, it was interesting that for some people, they were like, huh? You. You want us to come to your home and and eat with you like you're not a member of our family?

Set it up. Yeah. Yeah.

Or yeah, it's just.

It was it. Was for some people it was kind of an odd thing.

Yeah. Yeah. So I I don't know if that's a like a southern kind of Midwest difference or something, I don't know, but.

Difference. Yeah, still don't know to this day. Yeah, we've been very involved in this little town since even before we officially moved.

Yeah, so having a home here just gave us a place to base what we felt called to do in this community.

Yes. Yeah.

Yeah.

We have been playing with the idea of moving into a House here from very early on and the other day when we were on our you and me day in Davenport, we actually remembered that that had started as early as 2019, when we were just kind of dipping our toe into like what properties were available, what prices were that kind of stuff.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. What we wanted to do our long term goals to be where we wanted to end up that kind. Of thing.

Yeah. So I don't think we were really all that serious, but God was definitely preparing our hearts.

Heart, yeah. I love having a house full of people. I love it. I grew up in a house that had an open door policy with four of us kids in the house. There were always people in and out. We had visitors stay from out of town as they were passing through. There were times that friends facing. Hard times came to live with us. We had friends over all the time. There was a slumber party on the regular, you know, those kinds of things our kids might be a little old now for slumber parties, but they've definitely had their fair share. But that's what I dream of for this house.

Uh-huh.

I want everyone who comes into our home to leave feeling loved and to leave with their hearts just so full and my home may not always be spotless, especially now that I'm working outside of the home that can get a little crazy and my dogs can be crazy. You know, they they don't behave themselves.

They are crazy.

All the time when people come to the door, so apologize in advance, but it's always open to anyone that needs a safe space. Yes, a friend or a hug.

No. Uh. Yes. I think that whenever we have the privilege of being invited into someone's home. We. Instantly see what's important to them. In fact, I. Would go as. Far as to challenge you to pay attention the next time you walk into your own home, what sounds do you hear? What do you see? What seems to be the overall impression that you get? That what is your home telling you about yourself? Mm-hmm. If our homes are empowered by God and filled with the Holy Spirit, then what we use them for Will honor Christ. The impression left upon our guests should be something beyond ourselves. Our homes don't have to be 100%. Doing 100% organize or be extravagantly decorated. They don't have to be able to be worthy of the next edition of home and design. Our homes need to be open places of refuge to our families, friends and community.

Thank goodness. Can we please normalize hosting gatherings in our homes again? Sure. You know, churches have plenty of meeting space and restaurants are easier than cleaning house and preparing food. But when we value convenience too highly, we sacrifice the warmth. Welcome.

Please please. Yes.

And a comfort level that can't be experienced in a commercial building space.

Right, let's get into the habit of offering a personal kind of hospitality. That places others above ourselves.

Yeah, I want our home to always be a comfortable gathering place for our kids and their friends. Yeah, I want our friends to feel like they can drop by anytime. I want to be a place of refuge for anyone who needs a shoulder to cry on or a friend to confide in. It felt so natural to have a house full of seminary. Students that day, it was like, yes, this is exactly why we have this House to fill it up. We were able to host them in our home, encouraged them on their journey and in turn, they also encouraged us. Isn't that what it's all about?

Of course it is. We need to provide spaces where the Kingdom of God can reign and people can experience that kind of living, even if it's only on a small scale right now.

Mm-hmm.

Some of the students mentioned all of the peaceful decor, the Scripture, and the little sentiments that we kind of have around our home. Yeah, just like the American embassy waves the flag to declare safety and comfort within, we have signs, decor, music, playing calming essential oils.

MHM.

Confusing. And attitudes that declare our home a haven and a safe place mine closed. Front porch is my favorite place. That is, I love that spot. It is my prayer spot, my creative space and kind of my calming corner. It actually has a little sign hanging in there that says calming.

Yes. Yes.

Corner there is Scripture painted on my walls. That was one of the first things I did when we moved in here was I just painted my walls with happy colors and and and painted scriptures on them.

Yeah, it's really nice space, yeah.

There's open study. Bibles everywhere, spread out on my desk out there. I have prayer journals and there's just inspiration everywhere. So how about you? Do you have a favorite space in our home?

Well, I do. I love my office space, so I share my office space with the washing machine and dryer, but the half of the room that I have is just as I want it. Yeah, which is a good thing because I spend a lot.

Mm-hmm. There's that.

Of time there. You do? Yeah. So I love the way. The the shelves surround me, so when when I started thinking about this, I I wanted those shelves a certain way. So I I designed the whole layout myself. Mm-hmm. I made plans for the shelves and I and I built them. Now. My carpentry is not perfect.

MHM.

Please then.

But it did turn out how I envisioned it. I'm surrounded by scripture, by Bibles, by books that mean a lot to me by my photography and videography gear. It really centers me.

Yeah. Hmm.

MHM.

Yeah, and makes me feel ready to be creative and to work. Mm-hmm. I have prepared sermons there I have received and given counsel there. Mm-hmm. This life isn't easy, but it can be beautiful.

Yeah. So what do you think? Is this place sacred? When the student asked us that question, he said he was pretty sure he already knew the answer, but wanted to see how we responded. I thought that was kind of interesting. He already knew the answer because from the moment that they walked into our home, they felt the warmth and the safeness of this space.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah. My life, my family. This podcast and any place we work or live, is set aside for the glory of God.

I truly believe that God has called us to set up our home as a sacred place in this community. In Hebrews 13, two, the Bible says.

Yes.

Don't forget to show hospitality to strangers for some who have done this, have entertained angels without realizing it. Now I don't know if we have entertained any heavenly beings in our home, but we have definitely had some great people over.

Yes, we have in the book of acts the members of the First Christian Church broke bread from house to house and ate together with glad and sincere hearts.

You do not have to have a Pinterest Worthy home for it to be a sacred gathering. Face our home is tiny compared to many, but that really is no excuse. We also hosted gatherings in our RV when we lived in it.

Yes.

It's not the physical space that matters, it's the heart behind it. We want to challenge you today to evaluate your home.

Do you consider your home a sacred place? The Bible tells us in First Corinthians 6, verses 19 through 20 that if we are believers in Jesus Christ, our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit who lives within us.

Yeah.

If our bodies are temples and the Holy Spirit lives within us, and we dwell in our homes, then the Holy Spirit lives in our homes.

Mm-hmm.

Making them a. Sacred space to be used for God's glow.

3.

Yes, it's not the structure that makes the place sacred. It's not the decor. It's not like, you know, if you have certain objects within the room, it makes it more sacred. I was thinking as we were talking about this, I was thinking about the Tabernacle. You know, the Israelites moved around from place to place. They were wandering through the.

MM. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

And as they went, the Levites carried the pieces of the Tabernacle with them.

Mm-hmm.

So those pieces, when they were put together, wherever they settled, went together to make their place of worship. It was kind of like a a church building that you.

MHM.

Could take with you.

Yeah.

And then when they put that all together, the piece of ground that the Tabernacle was on had changed, and it changed frequently cause they changed location.

MHM.

But when the place was put together, it was exactly the same.

Mm-hmm.

The building hadn't changed. The people hadn't changed. The routines and rituals had not changed. But when that Tabernacle was assembled, you could walk into it and experience the same sense of sacredness that you had experienced in the previous place. Each time the assembly of the building was finished, the presence of God would fill the most holy the pillar of smoke would fill that room.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

It was God's confirmation that everything was ready to receive him and the work he was about to do in that space.

Mm-hmm.

We had that same experience while we were travelling around in the RV. Do you remember? It was kind of like once the doors were closed and the blinds came down, you were right back in that same familiar space with the same familiar surroundings that we had had 400 miles ago. The previous day our family was there.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right, yeah.

Our stuff was there, our routines and rituals were the same, and God was there.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Yeah, you can definitely create a sacred place in or around your home as well. Ultimately, creating a sacred space results in creating your own personal threshold for a quiet space of encountering God. It also provides a refuge for your family and friends, a space between earthly demands and encounters in our deepest desire to linger with God in a more beautifully. Meaningful way.

Yes. Thank you for joining us today. We hope this episode challenged you to think about the sacredness of your home. What are we going to talk about in our?

Next episode? Well, our next episode is going to be a little more lighthearted and fun. We've had a lot of serious lately, so we're we need something lighter. So we are calling it a dog's life.

We have, yes.

And we're going to feature our fur babies. Tipper and Gracie? Yes, they are a huge part of our family and bring us so much joy. We're going to discuss all the ways that having pets enriches our lives and makes it sweeter.

They do. Yes. A dogs have been known to make an appearance or two in our video podcast, so this should be a fun one, one where they're actually allowed to get involved in the meantime. While we're getting that podcast together for you, we would like to invite you to go back and listen to a previous episode. Speaking of living together.

Alright, we'll see how it goes.

In a house, we realize that this can sometimes be a challenge, true, especially like in our home. It's full of quirky people.

Oh, it is. Paul helped me fold the laundry one day.

I was now at this point I was innocently just just trying to help and so I folded the towels and I think I started off folding them just like the first way that came to mind.

You were, I know. In half and in half.

Ohh whatever. Yeah, some something like that. And then I was looking across and you were folding some other towels. And I'm like ohh OK, she does it differently. So I think then I tried to do it the same way as you and I didn't really know what I was doing. So I kind of ended up with a cross between how I did it and how you did it.

MHM.

And then the whole time, I'm kind of noticing how you're getting more and more frustrated and I'm like. I'm here helping.

I know, but I was just going to refold them so that they would fit in the cabinet. I wasn't going to make a big deal out of it, but you got your I think you got your feelings hurt over towels.

I got my feelings hurt over towels I did.

And. But that is definitely I mean you have to fold towels away that they will fit in your cabinet and we fold them different in the house. When we do in the RV, because we have different cabinets.

Now I'm well trained.

You are. You've come a long way.

I have come a long way. And I'll only ever fold. Them wrong. If I'm doing it.

Deliberately, to aggravate me, yes. And that is also something that you do, yes. Well, that was definitely an episode where we got to share a whole bunch about our lives. I may have to go back and listen. To that one. Myself, because it was long enough ago that I'm not really sure that I remember everything that we talked about. If you know someone who would enjoy this podcast, please point them in our direction. Visit us at Beautiful View Podcast on Facebook or Instagram. Share our post or share the link to our pod. Test also you can watch a video recording of our most recent podcasts on YouTube. The link to that is also in our show notes.

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