August 3, 2022
Dear St. Paul’s Family,
“’This is what I will do,’ he told himself; ‘I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, where I will store the grain and all my other goods.’” Luke 12:18 GNT
I confess that when I first heard of Rt. 11 Yard Crawl, I wondered if it was a form of pub crawl like ones that I recalled from college. (Note to my grandchildren: I did not participate in any such activities, nor should you.) The Yard Crawl is an annual yard sale in Shenandoah County covering some 43 miles of Rt. 11. It is a bit of heaven for yard-sale guests and sellers, and a traffic jam for people who don’t want to mosey along. This year the youth of are soliciting items in advance of the August 13 event and will donate the proceeds to the Central High School Dual-Enrollment Fund.
Neither my spouse nor I are drawn to yard sales. But we are drawn to getting rid of all the stuff that accumulates around the house. A good cause was all the motivation we needed. Rod suggested at breakfast one day that we get a box to collect our donations. Unless it is a VERY large box, it can’t begin to contain all the things we don’t use and don’t need. We could live very comfortably without most of what we have and still have more than most people in the world. The same goes for food. According to the Action Against Hunger Organization more than enough food is produced to feed everyone on the planet and yet as many as 820 million people go to bed hungry each night. In Shenandoah County amidst abundant agriculture there are 4,160 persons who are food insecure. The same shockingly true throughout our nation and our world.
Jesus told a parable about a rich fool. He had such abundant harvests that he decided to build more barns to hold it all, and then he could eat, drink, enjoy life and be merry. God said to him, “’You fool! This very night you will have to give up your life; then who will get all these things you have kept for yourself?’”
Jesus’ parable hits home. It is a wake-up call. ~ Rev. Anne
Wayfinding 