Today was Day Two of my yard sale to Save the Girls: A Ministry of Message, Rescue and Care. The purpose is raising awareness and funds to stop child sex slavery. The crescendo sounded the last ten minutes. I’ll tell you about it in a sec.
If you missed Day One, you can read all about it at Real Hurts, Real Hope, my other blog.
My vision for this ministry is for people to get mad and host a Save the Girls yard sale so that they happen all over North America and girls are rescued and cared for in the name of Christ, that they know true freedom in him and that you and I experience the compassion and mercy and justice of our loving God.
Here’s me, wearing a Save the Girls tee.
- Lucy wants more people to stop at the yard sale to Save the Girls. By the way, the stuffed animals are slow movers, even at 25 cents a piece.
Now the crescendo.
I’d love to say that the man with a ministry to the homeless in Chicago returned today, hefty donation check (as promised) in hand. He didn’t. Tomorrow? Only God knows.
I’d love to report that the yard saled pulled in more money today than yesterday. It didn’t. We got about half as much.
Instead, about 2 in the afternoon, as my friend Allyson and I began closing the yard sale, I noticed a man giving the box of books a thorough thrice-over. Thinking he must be choosing which Christian title he liked the best, I said something like, “You like Christian books?”
He pulled back his hand. . .fast.
“Then I better not touch them.”
This was the moment. The opportunity. The reason he stopped and I stopped for a God conversation.
“What do you mean?” My soft tone held no judgment yet he felt judged.
“Don’t I have to be good to touch them?” Good? Here we were, me in a tee shirt, shorts and sneakers and him in casual business clothes, nice shoes and a haircut that said, “I’m a successful, self-made man.”
“No, you don’t have to be good,” I replied. “They’re for sinners.”
“Then I guess they’re for me.”
Looking into his blue eyes, pretending not to see his smirk (or was it a crooked smile?), I said, “We all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” I don’t know if he knew these words came from the Bible. He changed the subject to Save the Girls.
“So this is for charity?” he asked.
Then I shared my 15-second speech about saving girls out of sex slavery and getting them care, even job training. I cited some statistics. He appeared skeptical. At least this was Allyson’s interpretation. He asked the perfect question: “How do we stop it?”
“God can stop it,” I said. I felt kinda stupid. . .hoping he wouldn’t ask the next obvious question: If God can stop it, why doesn’t he?
He never asked it.
He handed me a five-dollar-bill for a fifty-cent book titled New Passages by Gail Sheehy and turned toward the sidewalk.
“Do you want your change?”
“No. Keep it,” he said and nodded at the Save the Girls donation jar.
This was the best money we made all day. A sinner chose to save the girls. And God humbled me. Praise our God. Pray for this man. I do not know his name. God does.
Allyson checks yesterday's blogpost.
JoAnna and Sarah sit among baby clothes, relishing the breeze.
