A Matter of Perspective

By Joel Persinger
YourRealEstateDude.com

My wife can testify to the fact that she is not a Monday Night Football widow and she generally does not have to fight me for the remote in order to watch something other than sports. I must admit to being a basketball fan. But that is mostly due to the fact that our son plays basketball and we enjoy watching his team play. Still, once every four years, I turn into a sports nut. I find myself glued to the Olympic Games just as if I were a die-hard sports fan all year long.

Over the last two weeks I have enjoyed watching many Americans stand on the podiums and receive their medals. I could not resist standing every time our national anthem was played and I was so proud of each and every athlete. But, in spite of the grandness of the Olympics, the one event which touched me most did not happen in China. It was not the result of a hard won race or the spectacular flips and spins of gymnastics. It didn’t involve a swimming pool, a diving board or a track meet. In fact, it was a simple passing of the keys rather than the spectacular awarding of the medals. It was the quiet reading of the Scriptures rather than the triumphant playing of the anthem. There was no fan-fair and there were no fireworks. No records were broken and no international stars were born. And I suppose it should be noted that it happened in Mexico, not in China. No, this was a simple event that involved three families and three small houses.

It seems that there are poor people just to the south of us who do not watch the Olympics. A stalwart group of folks from our church discovered this some years back and decided to make a trip to Mexico each year to build houses. They built three while the Olympics were taking place. Frankly, the houses they built would be little more than tool sheds to you and me. But, to the families who had no home before those little houses were built those homes might as well have been mansions.

When the builders returned they brought video with them. They told the stories of the people and we watched as they cleared the land, laid the foundations and built the three little one room houses. When the houses were finished and painted so beautifully, one red and two yellow, the leaders of each home building team held a little ceremony. They prayed over the new houses, gave the heads of the families each a Bible and handed them the keys to their new homes. To see the looks on the faces of those families, you might have thought they had just been given gold medals. Somehow, I just could not resist standing.

Sometimes I look around and I feel like I’m missing out on things. The fellow down the street has a nicer car and one of the folks in my office has a bigger house. Why did that guy win a gold medal when I had hopes of doing so when I was young? But, then I have the chance to hear the stories of people who are so grateful for so little and I find myself realizing just how selfish I can be. Sure, the real estate market is down and people are having a tough go of it. But, I live in one of the richest cities in the richest state in the richest country in the world. Perhaps it’s time for me to take stock of just how blessed I really am. How about you?