Before Rachel and I left for vacation, a few days ago, we decided to attempt one of those multi-family yard sales.  We cleared out about $270 worth of stuff,  but the money was really only half of our goal.  Our bigger goal is to, one day, be able to actually be able to park one of our cars in our garage.  But, after 12 years of marriage, and 6 children along the way, Rachel and I seem to have accumulated, without even noticing it, a ton of …STUFF! There really is no other word for it other than — STUFF.

We have kid stuff, college stuff, dog stuff, bike stuff, baby stuff, winter stuff, summer stuff, fall stuff, stuff for when you fall, Christmas stuff, Halloween stuff,  Easter stuff, Thanksgiving stuff, lawn stuff, TV stuff, tubs to store our stuff, clothing stuff, shoe stuff, sports stuff, office stuff, tool stuff, phone stuff, computer stuff, school stuff, book stuff, furniture stuff, kitchen stuff, music stuff, toy stuff, sentimental stuff, donated stuff, random stuff, unidentifiable stuff, heirloom stuff, valuable stuff, cheap stuff, old stuff, new stuff, big stuff, little stuff, broken stuff and even unopened stuff. Well, I am hereby placing a moratorium on… STUFF.

Moratorium: Noun

1) A period of time in which there is a suspension of a specific activity until future events warrant a removal of the suspension or issues regarding the activity have been resolved.

I know what you are thinking.  You are thinking this is the time in the blog where Barry usually makes a Biblical point and tells us to quit buying so much stuff, right? Well, today I am not going to preach about our nations (and my) love for stuff. Or, even how we should really think about having less stuff. Why?  Because this fantastic video, called The Story of Stuff,  is going to do it for me! (ha!) Seriously, This video has been viewed more than a million times and will really make you think. Again, while I don’t agree with everything that is said in the video I do believe that it should challenge us on our God-given stewardship mandate.  It might even make you think about What Matthew 6:19 talks about.

^19-21“Don’t hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—worse!—stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it’s safe from moth and rust and burglars. It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.

Well, what do you think? Do you have too much stuff? Have you tried to cut back? What has worked on your “Stuff Diet” and when do you find yourself being a “Sucker for Stuff”! Do you own a Magic Bullet? Ab Flex?  Do you have a storage unit? How do you think other nations view us? Do we have a responsibility with our stuff? Are we fooling ourselves to think our happiness will be found in our stuff? What do you teach your kids about stuff?

Well, if you’re not a subscriber to the OB blog you should be! It would be “The Right Stuff”! Oh, Come-on!

Ok, I know this is going to sound strange but I was reading through the Bible the other day and the passage I was reading made me wonder: “I wonder what have been the strangest, weirdest, and most bizarre things ever to sell on Ebay?”

So, after a little research, I have put together a quick list of Barry’s top 10 strangest things ever to sell on Ebay.

#10. Pretend Monster under a Child’s Bed

Genius mom who sells a trouble making monster under her daughter’s bed! Brilliant!

#9. Ghost in a Jar
Arkansas man tries to sell a ghost in an a jar.  What’s really scary is to see how much the thing almost sold for! Boo!

#8. Virgin Mary Grilled Cheese Sandwich

A woman discovered her grilled cheese (yes, I said grilled cheese) had the image of the Virgin Mother on it. The sandwich would sell for more than $28,000, that’s a lot of cheddar!

7. Haunted Rubber Ducky

In 2004 a man sold a rubber-duckie that he says fought, antagonized and bit his son.

6. Man Tries to Sell His Liver on Ebay
A man from Florida put his organ up for sale on Ebay. The bid went as high as $5.7 million before eBay pulled it from its site. Stating it’s illegal to sell body parts on Ebay.

5. Illinois Cornflake

Two sisters from Virginia discovered a cornflake that appeared to be the same shape of the state of Illinois. They sold it for over $1,000. Aren’t all cornflakes shaped like Illinois?

4. Forehead Billboard

That’s right, Andrew Fischer, from Omaha, Nebraska sold the advertising space on his forehead for one month.  He agreed to get a temporary tattoo of any business name, slogan or domain.  The auction reached $322.

3. Woman Sells Right to Name Her Baby
When Melissa Heuschkel couldn’t decide what to name her fourth child she, of course, turned to ebay. In early 2005, Golden Palace casino won the online auction and, for a mere $15,500, was given the right to name the new child baby Golden Palace Benedetto.

2. Imaginary friend

Another completely wacko (or maybe genius) item that  sold on the net was the imaginary friend of a UK man. The image above is a picture of this imaginary friend whose name was Jon Malipieman, and as you can see he is imaginary. The man that sold Jon said that he was selling Jon because he felt like he had grown out of him.

In the official description of the product the seller made the following statement: “My imaginary friend Jon Malipieman is getting too old for me now. I am now 27 and I feel I am growing out of him. He is very friendly. Along with him, I will send you what he likes and dislikes along with his favorite things to do and his personal self portrait.” His self portrait is the picture you see above. Amazingly Jon Malipieman got 31 bids and ended up selling for over $3,000 dollars. Paying $3,000 for an imaginary friend truly is unimaginable!

1. A life for sale!

in 2001, after a bad divorce, an Australian man auctioned off all of his life’s possessions at one time.  The auction included his job, friends, car, house, and even his dog!  He now has his own website dedicated to the story of selling his entire life!

• The Value of the Kingdom of Heaven

This last item (A life for sale) is similar to the story in the Bible that started this whole blog post.  Matthew 13:44 Jesus is telling his followers a parable about the value of the kingdom of heaven when he says these words:

⁴⁴“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.

I read this passage and I was seriously challenged by the message of Jesus.  Do I treat this gift of grace and love, that I will enjoy forever, with more “value” than the things of this world? I wonder, at times, if I really “treasure” the kingdom of God (both present and to come) and treat it with more value than the gadgets and gizzmos that I adore. I am not saying that “things” are “bad”, I am just asking what do I/we value the most?  My encouragement for us today is simple.  Pause today, just for a moment, and be “filled with joy” (“…and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.”) that the “value” of being called a child of the creator of the universe is worth more than the accumulation all the the things you and I are striving for.  

On a lighter note, this passage got me thinking about how embarrassed I would be by some of the random stuff I own, if I ever needed sell everything. Which, of course, made me wonder about the most random stuff ever sold online! After my research for this post I realize that if the going rate for state shaped breakfast cereal is in the thousands of dollars then I had better get in on the action myself! So I am auctioning off one of the more random, yet brilliant, things I could find in my house!

When Rachel and I were first married, 12 years ago, we lived in a few mile north of Santa Barbara, CA.  Before the days of the “Circus-8″ Rachel and I would walk the Santa Barbara beaches and collect driftwood. My super beautiful and creative wife would then take the driftwood and paint a Santa face on them.  Alas, the Santa Barbara Driftwood Santa was born! To my knowledge there are no other Santa Barbara Driftwood Santas in the world!  We have put a driftwood Santa on ebay, and if you are interested, come and place a bid or at least take a look!  This is gonna be fun!

So, what is the most random thing you have in your house? Come on…Leave a comment?