Garage Sale-ing for Jesus

Today, our small town hosted a community-wide garage sale. You could see folks preparing all week, laboring into the night in sweltering garages, pricing ugly clothes and neglected toys. The meteorologist promised and delivered a magnificent day with a hint of Fall in the air and Betty Davis blue eye skies.

At the crack of dawn, or so it seemed, the long-awaited sale kicked off with only slightly less excitement and anticipation than an Olympics opening ceremony. I was out walking the dog when a vehicle resembling that of Jed Clampett barreled around the corner, discharging three overly caffeinated women in front of a neighbor’s home. They jogged up the driveway and immediately began elbowing their way through the crowded garage, hoping to find a long lost Picasso and a slightly battered Coach purse, both for a quarter. In the next two minutes, three other vehicles screamed to a stop in front of the same house. The drivers hurriedly threw down their GPSs and garage sale battle plans and entered the fray. I looked up and down the street where I could see the madness repeating itself at other homes, as tires squealed, toddlers peddled watered-down Kool-Aid, and ordinarily timid homemakers arm-wrestled for gotta-have bargains.

It may sound like I don’t like garage sales. On the contrary, I think they are a terrific way to unload all that stuff we no longer want, while making a little cash so we can go out and buy more stuff we won’t want next September. They are also a great place to find cool bargains so we have more disposable income to buy more things of which we will soon want to dispose (this is what happens to a sentence when you don’t end it in a preposition).

I had two share-worthy revelations as I was pondering the whole idea of garage sales. First, wouldn’t it be great if we had that much enthusiasm for not only buying Jesus but also selling Him?! If we got up early on Sundays so excited about spending time with Jesus and hearing the Message that we jogged to the church doors?! If we worked into the night, praying and prepping new ways to sell, that is share, Christ with others who are seeking a “great find”?! He is, after all, the ultimate “find.” Christ’s promise of grace and salvation is absolutely free, and once you have Him in your life, you won’t want to dispose of Him next September. The second garage sale lesson revealed to me is that once you know Christ, He will encourage you to get rid of all the unnecessary clutter in your life on a regular basis – the worry, the stress, the regrets, the anger, the jealousy, the self-loathing, the guilt. That is, all of us need to clean out the closets of our hearts and minds and regularly unload the “junk” which negatively affects our relationships with others and with Christ.

Who knew there was so much to be gleaned from a neighborhood garage sale? Happy shopping for and selling both jeans and Jesus, and giving Him all the junk in your life!

by Sue Busler