You can't judge what you can't see
I have recently enjoyed watching a show on Foxtel called Storage Wars, in this show various owners of Pawn and Second hand stores go to storage locations across Los Angeles and bid for abandoned or reclaimed storages sheds.
They are given 5 minutes to look from the door, they cannot go in, they are not allowed to touch anything but just look at the objects inside.
It is interesting to watch the dynamics of the bidders, when a container is opened and it is full they all scramble around and go all in with bidding, but when it is empty or of little interest they barely make an offer for it.
This reminds me of the age old tale of 'you cant judge a book by its cover', one bidder decided one day to bid on one of the empty sheds and won it for the small fee of $1.50, whereas the full sheds can sometimes go for upwards of $4,000.
The $4000 sheds are nearly always full of junk – broken electronics, torn furniture, boxes full of clothes and knick/knacks.
The shed that went for $1.50, had 1 plastic chair, 1 box, a fold away table and a couple pairs of shoes.
Hidden in the box was an antique from the civil war worth more than $400 an instant 320% profit, meanwhile at the $4000 shed the new owner has barely found $2000 worth of goods.
The moral here is as always you can't judge a book by its cover as it says in John 7 verse 24 – Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge.
In this sense, don't look by the outside of a stranger, but get to know them from the inside where the real treasure is with Jesus Christ
Christopher Archibald lives in Sydney and is a Youth Leader at New Life Christian Church in Blacktown. A supporter of the Penrith Panthers in the NRL, he hopes 2014 will not be another "re-building" year.
Christopher Archibald's previous articles may be viewed at
www.pressserviceinternational.org/christopher-archibald.html