Things

I sold my 1966 Chevrolet pickup for $2500 to buy a Toshiba laptop with the side-mounted mouse—latest technology in 1994.  We were returning to the mission field, and I needed a new computer for our work. Looking back, I wish that I could have kept that pickup. It was special and I wanted to keep it, but we were moving back overseas, and keeping it was just not possible. I had bought it a few years before and then invested funds in some body work and a new paint job. It was a straight eight with lots of power. I repainted it the same shade of light blue as the original paint. It was a keeper, but I could hardly pack it away in our luggage!

For the last several days I have been updating the inventory of our home and our farm. The inventory is a dynamic document that needs to be updated from time-to-time, so in some spare time I have been comparing the old document to the things that we presently have. We don’t buy new furniture very often, but the electronic stuff seems to turn over frequently.

And that was the case with my Toshiba laptop. After three years, the technology was outdated, the operating system was slow compared to the newest models, so I had to replace it.

About that time, I was back in Mississippi and actually saw my ’66 pickup going down the road. It looked great. I had spent my money on a laptop that was practically worthless, and there goes my pickup humming down the road just like it had done three years before when I sold it. You can guess some of the thoughts that ran through my mind as I thought about spending the $2500 from the sale of the pickup on a computer that was now worth nothing.

Isn’t it interesting how we want to keep “things?” I am guilty! In our attic and in the storage areas on the lower level of our home are boxes filled with some of those things. My barn is full of things that I am saving for future projects. Granted, I have saved a lot of trips to the hardware or lumber store by looking in my reserves for material for a project. Just this week I have been repairing a hay feeder that I made a few years ago. I learned that it is not wise to plant those 3 ½” by 3 ½” landscape timbers from Home Depot in the ground. They rot in about 3-4 years where a good treated post will last 20-25 years in the ground. I smile when I realized that among my “junk” (as some of my kids and grandkids refer to the goodies stored in my barn) were all the materials necessary to repair the hay feeder. Did not have to go buy anything!

So, I am patting myself on the back while getting off subject. Cheryl would say that I am chasing a rabbit. I have never chased a rabbit, but I have had beagles that were great as chasing rabbits. Uh, there I go again…

About those things that we accumulate. I had not thought much about all the things that we own until I started updating the inventory. I recall the villagers with whom we worked in West Africa. The only clothes they owned were the ones they were presently wearing. They slept on an elephant grass mat. They ate out of a common gourd dish. A prized possession for them was a kerosene lantern, a transistor radio or, if they had lots of money, a bicycle imported from China.

Granted, during those days, our lives were much simpler, and we had a fraction of the things that we have accumulated here in the USA. The purpose of this epistle is not to make you feel guilty about all your things because I already do. But the purpose is to remind us how much God takes care of all our needs and most of our wants.

I have learned over the years not to confuse the words “need” and “want.” At this ripe stage of wisdom-acquiring in my life, I know better than to say something like I need a new tractor. The fact is that there is nothing wrong with my tractor, but I want a newer model, but I do not need one (Cheryl is actually going to smile when she reads this!).

The Bible talks a lot about God supplying our needs, but not our wants. Philippians 4:19 (ESV) says, “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

All this said---I still wish I had not sold that ’66 pickup!