TREASURED "TRASH"

They assigned us various houses to go and help out after the hurricane. We were a part of the volunteers for the day. I personally knew that the hurricane had done a lot of damage, because people said it had but for some reason i had not even watched it on TV or the internet. Pulling up on what was a drive way and seeing the TRASH that was coming out of peoples house, waiting to be thrown away or recycled., I instantly knew that the hurricane had affected people beyond what I could ever imagine.

Notice my use of the word TRASH.! We found an old man and woman infront of the house and we asked where they could use our help. I was told to help the woman sort through the "trash" and see what we could save. We started searching through the piles of mud, standing on mud because the grounds had not dried yet, mixed with newspapers, 3 weeks old flood water because it had not dried off yet, broken glass, kitchen utensils, wood, plastics, I mean literally everything that made this house a house(a home), from property to building was all muddled up in this pile , the pile I had simply seen and labelled "trash".

I thought it was nasty even though I was touching it through thick gloves, and some of the muddy water was seeping through my boots, but my mindset drastically changed to guilt and sympathy. In this my so called trash, we found pieces of treasured China, pearls, kitchen utensils, cellphones, dollar notes, trophies, certificates and diplomas, photographs, and yes, while it looked like trash , it was full of treasured stuff. To me it was trash, but when I saw the look on their faces when we saved a picture or a book I realised it was treasured. To them this was a life time of memories. Losing this, was losing a home, losing their connections to history of friends, relatives, places, losing memories and after this, it was a start of a new life. It all looked like "trash", but it was "treasured".

However going through this pile, I found wooden carving and I asked.,
 "would you love to keep this?"
she said, "Oh! Buddha".
You can just imagine the look on my face. I found another one and she was so exubilant and then i asked, "are you Buddhists?"
she said, "No! well yeah! something along that same philosophy".
I started thinking maybe God wanted me to start evangelising but I couldn't come up with a starting line or anything like that, I was putting on a shirt that said "helping in Jesus Name".  I found solace in knowing that however many years down the line, these people will look back at the hurricane, remember and share how some people who believed in Jesus helped them after the hurricane.

I just stayed silent and kept working hard, praying my hardwork portrays my relationship with Christ and then a thought came up to me. That piece of Buddha she treasured, that Idol was TRASH, as I went through the pile, I saw some more trash they treasured and God reminded me of the "trash" I treasure. Relationships I hold on to that I need not, hatred, the small idols I worship (money, fame, beauty), pride, my phone, the list goes on and on. I do not treasure Buddha, or the little wooden Idols I came across in that pile but I have my own little, worthless stuff I treasure and I need to throw away.

As I went through the day,helping different people in different locations, I was just amazed at how the hurricane affected everyone, Christians, Non Christians, rich and poor, diverse races and was amazed at how each of these needed our help regardless of who we are and where we came from. They prayed with us, cried with us and laughed with us. The Scripture that popped out of my head was Luke 12:15" Be on your guard against all kinds of greed, a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions., and 33,34 says, "prepare a treasure in Heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys, for where your treasure is , there, your heart will be also".
Where are you storing your treasure? And what kind of trash are you treasuring? Is it worth it? As for me I think it is better for people to look at my pile and see trash when it is treasure, than to show off what I think is treasure, when it is trash.