Garage Sales & Loaves & Fishes

“Who donates a lot of garage sale items to someone as Fall turns to Winter?”

I’ll confess, this is one of the thoughts that briefly crossed my mind.  But as our friends have giant hearts, we love them, and knew this was probably a great opportunity, I accepted.  Which is to say, I passed the information to my wife.

The semi-commitment was made to come and look through some of the things they’d found as they were organizing their home.  They have a couple pretty awesome daughters, so who knows?  Maybe there’d be cool stuff for our girls in the midst of it.  There was no rush, as we didn’t have any plans to have a fundraiser anytime soon.  Little did we know what would happen.

Within the week, a call was received from our Adoption Agency.  Unexpected expenses, with a total that didn’t drain us, but definitely set us back a bit.  We stood briefly on the precipice of indecision.  As much as I despise “sales”, I can’t shake the fact that it usually ends up a worthwhile endeavor.  Okay, let’s go see what they’ve got.  I expected a few tubs.

“It’s not much, but you can have it all.” Words that sounded Biblically familiar. Only there was no boy with loaves and fishes.  Here was a family simply offering us a few things they thought might make a small sale, perhaps online, or when the weather warms up a bit.  They’d even help us take it all home.  But what if…what if we did a sale…now?  Schedules were checked.  Prayers were whispered.  A sale was put on the calendar.  Less than two weeks away.

Let’s see what we can get?  This is a pretty good start, right?  We made a flyer, we passed the word.

Friends responded.  Family responded.  Even from far away.  The loaves and fishes multiplied.  All of a sudden, we were drowning in a sea of donations.  The date of the sale approached.  We sent the flyer anywhere we could think.  Internet, radio, newspaper, public boards, etc.  It was all still theoretical, beyond the tubs sitting in our dining room.  That much we knew we could sell.  What else was coming?  We would find out the day before the sale, when donations would be arriving.

And arrive they did.  What began as a few tables, unleashed to cover an entire gymnasium filled with over 30 tables and more.  Friends showed up with boxes, and donated time.  Kids played.  A Friday filled to the brim with anticipation and sorting.  We and our friends hit the pillows, exhausted.  Before overtaken by sleep I prayed, “Jesus, please help someone come and buy something.”  Our goal was well over any garage sale I’d ever been a part of.  We also knew, if no one came to the sale, we were stuck with a whole lot of….stuff. 🙂

Saturday morning came, and so did they.  Lots of them.  Even someone switching price tags around on Christian artwork to get a better deal couldn’t put a damper on our spirits.  The kids helped sell baked goods.  Our friends from out of town worked as if it were their own sale.  Little by little, the tables were thinned.   Money was coming in.  It slowed around lunchtime, and never quite picked up again.  The dust began to settle.  Thankfully, a local thrift store agreed to come and collect what was left.  They were so excited, these leftovers were worth thousands!  We were so excited, we wouldn’t have to load it all up and take it somewhere ourselves!

As the dust settled, and the profits were counted, the total came in.  We had surpassed our already ridiculously high goal.  Once again, God had taken someone willing to say, “It’s not much, but it’s yours.”, and used it to do something miraculous, and at the perfect time.

Maybe you’re holding loaves and fishes of your own this week.  Maybe you’re wondering if it’s even worth offering.  It doesn’t make sense.  It seems bad timing.  It doesn’t seem like much compared to the need.

But in the hands of God – anything can happen…will you offer it to Him?

We are thankful someone did, for us. 🙂