“The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” (Matthew 13:44, NAS)

My wife has been quite busy these last few days. She has found lots of items that we will never use again. In order to dispose of all this junk, she called the city Waste Management program for a special large-item pick-up. In addition, some of the things had to be brought to the dump; but there were some items that the city wouldn’t take that were not convenient to take to the dump, and some items that required an expensive city tag in order for the city to pick them up. What would we do with these items?

Now please understand that we are not the kind of people who like to sell our garbage to others, so a yardsale is out of the question. It took a few days, but we did come up with another solution: “Let’s put the stuff on the side of the road. Maybe someone will see the stuff and help themselves!”

And that’s what we did. We started with the dehumidifier and the basketball net. We had bought a 20$ ticket for the disposal of the dehumidifier, but when we woke up, both items were gone! We were able to return the ticket and regain our 20$.

Hey, that’s pretty cool! Why not bring out more items? If it will help someone else, why not?” And so that’s what we did, and bit by bit, the stuff disappeared.

We tried to keep an eye on the people who took our junk, and it was as if they had won the lottery, as if they had found a fortune. One of our neighbors even took advantage of this and we became friends on the spot. Maybe I should put out junk more often!

This reminded me of the man who found a treasure in the field. He, too, was excited. He bought the field so that he could have the treasure. In the same way, my new-found friends are excited as well, and they didn’t even have to buy anything! It was all for free!

Sadly enough, not everyone enjoys things that are free: “On the final and climactic day of the Feast, Jesus took his stand. He cried out, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Rivers of living water will brim and spill out of the depths of anyone who believes in me this way, just as the Scripture says.'” (John 7:37, 38 MSG)

Many seem to prefer junk to the real treasure. Who else can bring eternal life to others? Who else can heal us from top to the bottom? Only the One who left Heaven and came into our neighborhood to show that love is way more important than anything else. The One who loves us the most is our Heavenly Father. He loves you!

If you’d like some junk, come on over! We seem to have a unending stash…

Rob Chaffart