Photo and Commentary (c)2025 by Maylan Schurch
Friday, August 29, 2025
After breakfast most mornings, I stroll a mile-long loop in our neighborhood, and Shelley joins me to continue our walk in a different direction. On my first loop, I always pass a corner property which we’ve come to think of as the Mystery House.
For years, maybe more than a decade, these same two cars have been parked in exactly these positions. The car on the left has a couple of old white boxes in the back seat, and these have never moved. The tires of each vehicle haven’t yet gone flat, but they’re sagging. The driveway is covered with layers of moss and pine needles. The lawn is mowed perhaps once a year, and doesn’t seem to be watered. No lights shine inside the house at night.
Not long ago, Shelley looked up this home’s address online, and found that it hasn’t been sold since around 1984. Bottom line: Nobody (except a mystery mower who gives the lawn its annual buzz) seems to care.
But look closely at the white frame of the right-hand garage door. Do you see the yellow piece of paper taped there? I know what it says, because the same paper was taped on my own garage door. It offers the services of a local lawncare firm. And attached to the yellow sheet is a small business card advertising housekeeping.
What an offer, right? Within a month or two, the lawn could show signs of revival, the driveway could be pressure-washed, the cars disposed of, and this house would look lived-in again.
Songwriter Stuart Hamblen once sang a spiritual parable about an old house.
This old house once knew my children
This old house once knew my wife
This old house was home and comfort
As we fought the storms of life
This old house once rang with laughter
This old house heard many shouts
Now she trembles in the darkness
When the lightnin’ walks about
Ain’t gonna need this house no longer
Ain’t gonna need this house no more
Ain’t got time to fix the shingles
Ain’t got time to fix the floor
Ain’t got time to oil the hinges
Nor to mend the window-pane
Ain’t gonna need this house no longer
I’m gettin’ ready to meet the saints
For more facts about Jesus’ coming, click the link just below:
https://www.bibleinfo.com/en/topics/second-coming-jesus-christ