Modern Day Feeding of the 5000

Yesterday I mentioned that I would probably ramble on about our church's rummage sale. I meant to....I just got a little sidetracked with life.

I always find this Rummage sale an amazing thing. Many people would probably call me a Garage Sale Snob....because I am a little finicky about what I will pick up second-hand. I always dread taking my kids to garage sales because they aren't nearly as finicky as I am. I often find myself amazed at what people put out to sell...and then I find myself equally amazed that someone would pay good money for it. That gives you a little background on my garage sale feelings.

Two times a year, the ladies in our church put on this ginormous rummage sale. The amount of stuff that we pack into our fellowship hall is always a little mind boggling. The ladies usually start setting up on Sunday afternoon....and by Monday afternoon when I stopped by...WOW! It was already pretty full. It truly is one ginormous sale!

My kids love the church garage sale. To them, it is an adventure...a gold mine...and a trip to the candy store all wrapped up as one. There is no faster way to get my kids on the move than to mention that we are headed over to the garage sale. On the days that I attempted to help at the sale....I just gave them each a box to dump their "treasures" in and we would discuss their purchases at the end of the day. They love that....and honestly it is wonderful....they don't ask me a ton of questions and I get to be a little bit helpful to the ladies who work so hard. Usually their boxes are full of things that, at home, I throw away after the "newness" has worn off. Oh well....I guess sanity is worth a couple dollars!

Saturday afternoon is breakdown time....and the time where the true miracle of this rummage sale reveals itself. As four o'clock rolls around, the tables in our fellowship hall are still loaded. If you had seen the tables before the sale officially started and then saw them at the end....you could probably tell that a lot of stuff had gone. But the men of our church hauled away several truckloads of stuff away and donated it to Goodwill. We filled up their truck and they sent part of our last load away!!

Every church garage sale that I can remember noting the dollar amount made, it seems like the total has ended around $1800 to $2000! In fact, I think I have even come to expect that God is going to provide that much money through our sales. Maybe this is where my snobbiness shows, but honestly, I am also always surprised at the total. Yes, the amount of "stuff" is astronomical....but most of the stuff falls in the category, in my poor snobby, short-sighted opinion, of being hauled to the dump. I know that my vision is limited. I know that many people see treasures where I see trash. Some have the uncanny ability to take "trash", work it over, and voila.....something beautiful and useful. I lack all of that completely.

But God is still in the business of doing miracles. I see it at these sales at least two times a year. It is like when Jesus fed the 5000 with five loaves and two fish. TWELVE baskets of pieces were picked up afterwards. Can you just imagine how you would feel as one of the disciples? You knew how much food was in your hand as you passed it out. You knew that these people were hungry and ate until they were satiated. You knew there was no way this could have happened except by the almighty hand of God. You knew! Right there before you, Jesus did a miracle. God took these little offerings of our faith in doing this garage sale and He multiplied it!

I can't help but think that God is blessing the work of Sherwood Friends Women. We use that money for so many different mission projects....abroad and at home. Sometimes our gifts are small and some are big. Who knows who God is feeding through the faithfulness of these women and their labors? We must be doing something right...because God keeps giving us the money to do it. It is fun to be generous with God's money. It is fun to think about how God may be blessing someone on the other side of the globe. It is fun to hear the blessings that our own church members receive from the scholarships to retreats. It is fun to be a part of God's miracles!

I wish that I could have taken note of EVERY item that left our church sale this weekend. I wish that I had a column to SEE how in the world we sold $2000 worth of "stuff." What if we had sold every single item? What would the dollar amount have been? When it is all said and done, though, I'm glad that I can't. Who wants to explain away a miracle?