Yard Sales

Someone has said concerning yard sales, "One man's junk is another man's treasure." Only a poor man would have said that about yard sales. Rich people don't come to yard sales.

We had a big yard sale the other day. We wanted to lighten our load for moving. So we sold as much stuff as possible. We've spent weeks going through our stuff and setting aside that which we didn't want to take with us. My in-laws added their stuff as well. I think altogether we brought in over $300.00. Not bad for one day. Anyway, the people that came weren't rich, yet many did find treasures, small and great.

One man was looking for computer parts. He had old DOS games that wouldn't run on the newer Windows XP computers. So he wanted to build a machine that was made of older parts so that he could run his old DOS games. I had some old parts that I stripped off some machines that we were throwing away. He was glad to find such parts.

One young man came on a bicycle. He was a local migrant worker for one of the farmers in the area. He bought a quilt and a space heater. You could tell what he needed. He found his treasures. He brought a friend back later on. The friend was looking for a bicycle. We had one. Unfortunately the bicycle was just a little too big for him.

We had others who came for nik naks. They were looking to spruce up their living space. They just wanted to make it seem more like their place. Some found cheap books ($.25 for paperbacks) that made for good reads.

I'm sure that even though some found our stuff to be worth buying, most people would not find yard sales to be places where real treasures are found. People drove up in mostly older cars. I didn't see a Mercedes, a Rolls Royce, or a Bentley (although someone with a Jaguar, a relatively new one, did come for a brief period of time). God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong things (1Cor.1:26-29). What we value as real treasures and strength, God doesn't. He wants us to trust in Him and Him alone (1Cor.2:1-5). This is why Paul says that he glories in his weaknesses rather than his strengths (2Cor.12:9-10). We are at our strongest when we are at our weakest. At our weakest we trust in the only one who can be trusted.

Most reject Christianity as junk, not worth the commitment. Yet this is the faith that God treasures (Heb.11:6). Rich and poor are welcome to share in the real treasures that God gives.

The Case for Faith

Just finished reading Lee Strobel's The Case For Faith. He structures this book pretty much as he did his The Case for Christ. Each chapter is an interview with a scholar who answers the question Strobel poses at the beginning of the chapter. Each chapter is an objection that unbelievers have against believing in God.

Although I liked this book, I didn't like it as well as his The Case for Christ. The reason is quite simple - this book was more philosophic in nature and the objections were not as easily dealt with as in the other book. The other book dealt with archealogy, manuscript evidence, and had concrete answers to the questions Strobel posed to each of the scholars.

I did like his chapter dealing with doubt. The interview was with Lynn Anderson, who preaches in the Church of Christ fellowship. I liked Lynn's suggestion that often when people claim to have doubt in the evidence they really have another issue keeping them from believing what they know to be true. It was a good chapter.

However, his last chapter in this book was quite good. He suggested that no one answer to any of the objections will cause one to believe but that when you put all the answers together they form a powerful reason together for believing.

Overall it's a pretty good book. I think that everyone should have both of his books (I haven't read his third book The Case for the Creator yet). The two may not answer every question that may come to the Christian but both are a powerful testimony to the evidence that exists for Christ and for believing in God.