Picture this:

It’s a brisk Saturday morning. Rather than navigating our typical garage sale route through the Glendora foothills, we worked our way east into the charming parts of Old Town La Verne. I’ve had great success in La Verne by the University. The older Victorian and craftsman style homes are ripe with older pieces of furniture.

We’re at a cute house and an old White Clad cabinet caught my attention. Dad works his way toward the back of the driveway. “Hey Michele,” he says. “An old church pew?”

Everything from that moment on was in slooooow moooootion! My eyes got big and my heart rate started to explode out of my chest. I know I maintained a moderate level of composure, but in my head I was running, tripping over the boxes of books and other odds and ends, near ready to take out anyone who as much as dared look at my pew.

I’m frantic. Who’s stuff is this? What if someone else already bought it! What if they’re negotiating the price and I’m too late? I don’t think I’d be able to live with myself, knowing we were mere minutes…seconds too late.

I see the owner with another “customer” and patiently frantically wait my turn. It’s not sold.

“I’LL TAKE IT!”

phew

I was done for the day. It was only 8:30 in the morning but I had to ride the high of negotiating the most fabulous, exciting yard sale find of my entire life.

I was so excited to get home with my new found treasure. I cleared out a space and set it up in my living room.

It’s the first thing you see when you walk through my front door.

The beautiful and elegant curvature of the design and the intricate wood detailing on the side is so reminiscent of an old, steepled sanctuary!

It even still had the gorgeous brass pencil holder on the back with awesome details!

It’s different than any pew I’ve ever seen with the slightly angled and curved back. It’s even pretty comfortable, considering it’s solid wood.

One of my favorite things about it, is that it provides and new space to store and display some of my favorite things without it feeling cluttered or out of place.

I love thinking about the significance this simple piece of furniture had in someone’s life. Perhaps they were sitting on this same pew when they made a life altering decision for Christ. Perhaps it was a place of peace and refuge. Perhaps hundreds of individuals deepened their relationship with Jesus while sitting in a beautiful sanctuary on this very pew. It makes me smile just thinking about it and incredibly pleased that I can share in its rich history, though I know nothing of it. One can imagine!