Please note that the content and viewpoints of Mr. Hansen are his own and are not necessarily those of the C.S. Lewis Foundation. We have not edited his writing in any substantial way and have permission from him to post his content.

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Dear Friends:

“Not to worry,” the real estate agents said. “Rising real estate values will build your equity and you can always refinance or sell and move up in the market” Clients would come in to my law firm and receive cautions about this, but the American dream of new home ownership proved too tempting. That’s how school teachers and travel agents, dental hygienists and sales managers came to have homes with first and second mortgages in the seven figures. Then the market crashed.

My home county was especially fast growing in the period from 1985 to 2008. Then the market crashed and whole blocks were left with the empty windows and dead lawns of abandonment. Unemployment soared to over 15% and has been stuck around that level ever since. Homeowners attempt “short” sales to stanch the hemorrhage of cash their mortages demand. Failing that they just walk away and take the hit on their credit ratings.

There are many challenges to Christian believers involved in both hot and cold real estate markets. Faith and honesty are tested by greed and fear. Prudence is hard to maintain before the practiced blandishments of promoters and “experts.” When it comes to the dreams of home, emotions can easily take over.

It has ever been so. Back in the 1990s, I experienced remarkable grace demonstrated in Christian faith while dealing with a tragic real estate problem. I think it is timely to share that story again.

. . . .

My mom, who had a great affinity for “underdogs” and strangers, had a favorite Scripture: “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world” (James 1:27).

My mom and dad believed that Christ calls us to help whoever needs help when and where they need help if it is in our capacity to do so. In the Christianity they taught their children, it was a sin not to help when you have the capacity to do so.

I grew up to be an establishment business attorney. I have met plenty of strangers, but rarely represent underdogs in my professional life. But even cynical lawyers can be surprised by grace. . . .

A  woman and her three daughters came to me to incorporate their family business. They had moved 3,000 miles with their husband and father to establish the business. He died suddenly leaving them to carry on overwhelmed by the demands of business and grief.

After incorporation, the mother and daughters pooled what was left of their savings and bought a house. It was a “for-sale-by owner” deal with a “wrap-around” deed of trust. They would pay the seller and the seller would see that his lender was paid.

This was a common practice in California real estate, the seller told them. He seemed very knowledgeable and considerate. He had papers for the house that looked authentic. He told them they could save money by not going through an escrow. For the first time in their lives, mother and daughters, negotiated and bought a house.

They made their payments faithfully for several months. Then I received a call from the mother. A man had come to the door. He said he was the owner of the house. He said he hadn’t been receiving his rental payments and had come to see his tenant. The tenant was the erstwhile “seller” to my clients.

The tenant and his wife had taken the $25,000 down payment and had long since disappeared. The true owner of the house, a college professor named McMurtry, wanted to sell the house. My clients were bewildered and facing eviction. McMurtry agreed to meet them at my office to discuss the problem.

The mother came alone. She was nervous. I was very concerned. Experience with California real estate “scams” told me that she and the daughters probably had no rights against the owner. They would likely lose their home and savings. I prayed with her that God would protect her family and bring justice to the situation.

McMurtry walked in. We exchanged business cards. He was a professor of education at a nearby Christian institution, Azusa Pacific University.

All of us sat around my law firm’s conference table. I told McMurtry how my clients had come to purchase the house. McMurtry told me the tenant was a member of his church who had seemed trustworthy when he rented the house. The house was an investment for McMurtry and his wife for their retirement. They had planned to sell it. He produced a deed and a title report to prove ownership.

Then McMurtry said something to my client that jolted my head up from inspecting the documents to take a long, hard look at McMurtry.

I thought that I heard him say,”I’m not going to throw you out of the house. You’re a widow. You know I have an obligation to you.”

“What did you say?” I asked McMurtry.

He said, “Your client’s a widow. I have an obligation to see that she does not lose the roof over her head.”

I was shocked. “In my experience, sir, that is not the reaction of most property owners in your situation.”

McMurtry shrugged. Then he proposed a lease-purchase plan in which the payments of my clients would be applied toward the purchase of the home.

I called McMurtry the next day. “I want to thank you for demonstrating mercy,” I told him.

“Isn’t that what a Christian is supposed to do?” he said in matter-of-fact tone.

“Yes,” I said, but almost no one follows through on that obligation, it seems.”

“I just do what I can,” McMurtry said.

“Well, you sure surprised this lawyer.”

McMurtry was true to his word. It cost his wife and him a lot of money.Years later a friend of mine who knows this story brought it up to McMurtry. “Oh that,” was all he said.

Jesus never prescribed a uniform or a hairstyle for his followers. He didn’t give them a slick formula for success or a slogan to wear on a T-shirt. He left only one valid indicator to identify his disciples: He said, “I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples” (John 13:34-35, NLT).

Ray McMurtry is a disciple of Jesus Christ. What he did for that widow and her daughters makes me want to be one too.

“O taste and see that the Lord is good. Happy are those who take refuge in him” (Ps. 34:8).

Under the mercy of Christ,

Kent

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Kent Hansen is a Christian attorney, author and speaker. He practices corporate law and is the managing attorney of the firm of Clayson, Mann, Yaeger & Hansen in Corona, California. Kent also serves as the general counsel of Loma Linda University and Medical Center in Loma Linda, California.

Finding God’s grace revealed in the ordinary experiences of life, spiritual renewal in Christ and prayer are Kent’s passions. He has written two books, Grace at 30,000 Feet and Other Unexpected Places published by Review & Herald in 2002 and Cleansing Fire, Healing Streams: Experiencing God’s Love Through Prayer, published by Pacific Press in spring 2007. Many of his stories and essays about God’s encompassing love have been published in magazines and journals. Kent is often found on the hiking trails of the southern California mountains, following major league baseball, playing the piano or writing his weekly email devotional, “A Word of Grace for Your Monday” that is read by men and women from Alaska to Zimbabwe.

Kent and his beloved Patricia are enjoying their 31st year of marriage. They are the proud parents of Andrew, a college student.