Let's Build a House

Many, many years ago when we lived in a large city in South Florida, we knew an African American minister who was the pastor of a small but growing church close to the inner city. He was talented and good things were happening in his congregation and in the community but the problem was that he lived 50 miles away.

One evening my Real Husband, who was quite a visionary, said to me, "I think we should build him a house."

I rolled my eyes. Neither of us knew how to build anything - even a birdhouse.

Before I knew it he was on the phone with a close contractor friend. "Would you be the contractor if I found the property and enough volunteers to build a house?"

To my amazement, he said "Sure."

Every Saturday for many weeks we worked on the house. Everybody who wanted a job had one. Some people played with the children of the workers, some made sandwiches and iced tea. We had fun.

When we were finished the house was given to the church and the minister and his family moved in.

This was well before Habitat for Humanity - but, later on, we helped build many of those houses too.