I have been reading Rob Bell’s latest book, “Love Wins”. Enjoying it a lot. Many fresh perspectives. One thing that struck me:

There’s nothing wrong with possessions: it’s just that they have value only when we use them, engage them, and enjoy them. They’re nouns that mean something only in conjunction with verbs.

That’s why wealth is so dangerous: if you’re not careful you can easily wind up with a garage full of nouns.

This made me think of our garage. Currently, we have several pieces of furniture that we are no longer using. A desk, a couple of media cabinets, a bookshelf, among other things. We may be adding a couch to the collection before too long. We are in need of a serious purge.

Upon discussing this, my wife suggested we look for ways to give away this stuff. There is something called “freecycle” which is apparently a craigslist for giving stuff away for free. I have been thinking more along the lines of selling this stuff through craigslist–you know, getting actual money out of the deal.

I think this way because I currently don’t have what you would call a real “day job”. So the fear of not enough has crept in. In actuality, we are doing okay. We are currently much more in a position to bless and be generous than to feel we have barely enough to scrape by. And I am looking forward to growth and success in my music career. Lord willing and the creek don’t rise, we won’t have to scrape by.

So, casting fear aside, it’s time to purge and be generous. I’m thinking Goodwill. We have given away stuff before to both Value Village and Goodwill, but it wasn’t until recently that I learned that Value Village is not a non-profit organization. They are a for-profit business that “partners” with local non-profit organizations in their area. Instead of a percentage of profits, it is a flat rate donation. Value Village makes a lot of money and the amount going to NPO’s is not disclosed.

On the other hand, Goodwill is an NPO and 84 percent of the revenue they collect in their thrift stores goes to provide employment, training and support services to more than 1.9 million individuals. Now that’s bang for the buck!