Little Yard Sales, Big Ideas

[Tony] On July 10th, as many of you probably know, there was a “Free Yard Sale” in our front yard. It was a beautiful day. It was a beautiful day because the sun was shining, the rain stayed away and we had a chance to work on our suntans (or sunburns). It was a beautiful day because, in little ways, many people were helped, many people got a chance to help someone else, and many people had a chance to see and be a part of something that they may have never seen before.
All of us here are so very grateful to those of you who helped with the yard sale. Some of you brought things from home to donate to the cause (the amount of “stuff” we received to give away was breathtaking). Some of you came early in the morning to help set up tables, organize clothes and toys and furniture and anything and everything else that was brought to us. Some of you came early, stayed late, built relationships, grilled hot dogs, lifted heavy things, folded and re-folded piles of clothes and above all, dealt with all of those things we couldn’t have seen coming with grace, compassion and wisdom. Some of you came and lifted not only our house and the yard sale, but the neighborhood, our neighbors, our visions and our relationships up in prayer. Some of you prayed for us from your homes because you couldn’t make it out that day. All of you reflected the love of Jesus Christ by giving of yourself for the glory of God and His Kingdom.
The yard sale, in and of itself, was a small thing. It was not a cause that was going to send tremors through economic barriers. It was not a great step in eliminating poverty. For those who may have had small needs met through some new clothes or a ceiling fan, their deepest needs were still largely unmet. The yard sale was simple. It was a small act of generosity, love and kindness, and it is those things, among an armful of material things that were spread in abundance. However, in doing these small things, it gives dreamers, like myself, to dream big things. The yard sale was a very small scale picture of what God’s Kingdom might be like. Let me show you what I mean…
We live in a world in which the distribution of resources, of property, wealth, food, water, education, etc. is devastating to masses while favorable to only a select few. For example, today, globally, 40% of the world’s resources are owned by 1% of the world’s population. In simplest terms, it is extremely difficult for someone of that 99% to accumulate resources because they have no way through which to obtain them. In other words, in order to survive, one out of four children throughout the world must choose to work instead of go to school. Without education, or funding for an education, this child already is entering into an almost irreversible cycle of poverty.
The more I study statistics like these in regards to larger socioeconomic issues at hand, the more I am drawn to scripture in the Book of Exodus. After escaping the hand of Pharaoh in Egypt, the Israelites had followed Moses and Aaron into the wilderness. There they were without food and began to complain to Moses. To this the Lord says “Look, I’m going to rain down food from heaven for you. Each day the people can go out and pick up as much food as they need for that day” (Ex. 16:4, NLT). God desires the dependence of the Israelites on Him, for He is a God who provides. God then proceeded to shower the traveling Israelites with manna and quail from heaven, giving them just enough to eat for that day, yet warning them not to store any away for the next, as this would show a lack of faith in God’s promise to provide. This idea of worshipping a “God who provides” is interesting given that 800 million people will not eat today. Does this mean that God is no longer interested in “providing” for our basic necessities? To answer this, we must look at the resources that we already have. It is estimated that the total cost to provide every person on the planet with basic health care, clean water and sufficient nutrition would be roughly $120 billion. Keep that $120 billion in mind. The U.S. government spends $12.5 million every hour on the war in Iraq alone. Every year, the White House and Congress allocate over $500 billion on the national defense budget. Americans spend close to $120 on ice cream every year. Americans spend over $9 billion on Black Friday alone every year.
With this bigger picture in mind, the idea of a “free yard sale” implies that we believe in a God who does provide. Our God has provided for us. However, many of us enjoy the bounty of what the Israelites found in the promised land of milk and honey. What are we to do with the bounty that God provides? Later in the same chapter in Exodus, Moses writes: “So the people of Israel did as they were told. Some gathered a lot, some only a little. But, when they measured it out, everyone had just enough. Those who gathered a lot had nothing left over, and those who gathered only a little had enough. Each family had just what it needed” (Ex. 16:17, NLT). What if everyone only took what they need? What if every family had just what it needed? There is enough. There will always be enough. They question then, is how are we handling what we have been given?
May we be a people who realize what we have. May we see that what we have is a gift from God, given out of love and grace, based not on merit but on need. May we reflect that selflessness so that we may one day know that we have what we need and our neighbors have what they need. Thank you God for giving us a small glimpse of how it is that you are still a God Who Provides.