All that remains

Well Monday and Tuesday have elapsed and I have to tell you it felt wonderful not to HAVE to compose a post for this blog as I am now free from the self-imposed obligation - but obviously something has changed in me as a result of the experience because here I am on Wednesday working on another one! For the content of today's blog I want to tell you share a scripture, tell you a story and then tie up loose ends with regards to the outcome of my Lenten journey - and how much money I managed to raise.

First, a passage of scripture that God made come alive to me this Easter:

“Don’t judge, and you won’t be judged. Don’t condemn, and you won’t be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good portion—packed down, firmly shaken, and overflowing—will fall into your lap. The portion you give will determine the portion you receive in return.”

Luke 6:37-38 Common English Bible

This Lenten journey began for me with the realization that I was a pharisee and consequently was being far too judgmental of others when I should have been judging my own actions and heart and it moved into a season of giving as a result of that - well this Sunday God taught be about the last part of that passage.

I've parted with most of my at home collection (probably about 40% of my overall collection) over this season - I set ground rules at the beginning that I was only selling off figures from my home collection because they were the ones that were least enjoyed - and even then I was only going to sell off the ones that were in storage and consequently seemed to be pointless to hold onto when they could be doing good elsewhere. Well thankfully I never had to dip into my collection at the office, but God did stretch me and force me to wander outside of the collection in storage and begin to part with the home collection that was on display in the house. After the commitments of Lent and one other opportunity God put in my way to be generous I ended up parting ways with 48 different toys until in the end all that remained of the home collection was this guy: Classics Optimus Prime.

At the end of the journey (as I've already blogged about here) I didn't feel sad. I felt good that I was following God and joyful at what I was able to raise for Impact Ministries - more on that later). On Easter Sunday all my auctions finished and a couple of local people bought some toys too. Some of the locals I know personally but this one person I did not (and still do not) know his name. He wanted to come by Sunday night and pay in cash as he picked up the spoils of the auction. Around 9:00 Sunday night while I was toiling away rewiring our basement for our ongoing renovation the doorbell rang.

The gentlemen came to the door and paid me almost double the price he won the toys for because it was for a good cause and then proceeded to ask me about my collection. I had found another Transformers enthusiast and collector in the city of Estevan (and I didn't get his name!!!) he was asking about what I have left and what lines I collected and specifically if I collected Masterpiece figures. Now you have to understand that Masterpiece Transformers are toys made for adults. They are beautifully sculpted, intricately engineered, extra-large figures that are not designed to stand up to the rigorous play of children. They are also prohibitively expensive for children. And for that reason they are marketed to adult collectors. 

I do in fact collect the masterpiece figures and have five of them on my shelves in the office - but there have been a couple of figures that have eluded me. One of them being Masterpiece Skywarp. Skywarp is a repaint of masterpiece Starscream who was released by Hasbro in the North America as a Wal-Mart exclusive. That's significant because importing the original Japanese version tends to be very expensive so the opportunity to but it at retail here is a big advantage. Unfortunately I never found one at retail - and with eBay priced even for the Hasbro figure approaching $100 after shipping - I thought I never would. Until Sunday night that is - when the buyer after asking his questions announced that he had something for me in the car. he went back to his vehicle and pulled out - Masterpiece Skywarp. After picking up my jaw from the ground I politely thanked the man and he went on his way. This man whom I never met before, and whose name I do not know (although I do know his online alias) just gave me this expensive figure as a gift - no strings attached! On Easter Sunday - at the end of a season of me giving away my toys please someone tell me that this wasn't a God thing!

It's Wednesday now and I'm still reeling from that unexpected gift. More truth to adage that you can't out-give   God. What also has struck me is how good people are when you give them an opportunity to be. I received so many messages from complete strangers on eBay encouraging me in this endeavour (all of my auctions included a link to my blog and an explanation of why I was selling these toys) - three different local people bought toys and all of them paid far more than the winning auction price when they paid. One person made it their personal mission to bid up the auctions and ended up purchasing four lots even though they are not a collector themselves. I ever dreamed that this exercise would be so fruitful - but it has been, both for me and for Impact ministries who after shipping costs, eBay fees and and currency conversion will be receiving a cheque from me to the value of $440 CAD (figures rounded up).

Thank you to everyone who got involved in this project by bidding, buying, donating, commenting, praying and just supporting me through this. It has been a wild journey and I'm excited to see what God wants to do next. For any of you who are considering following my example and exhortation from the sermon a couple weeks ago - DO IT! I'm not going to promise that God will drop a Masterpiece Skywarp in your lap but I can promise you that you will be blessed - because when you give to God - or to the things God asks you to - God will show is blessing commensurate with what you gave - and more!

I'll check back in with you on Friday probably.
Until then,
Chris