A Lemon

When I was a young child, I remember my grandfather always trying his hand at new things. Not necessarily learning new skills, but rather, finding new ways to, “make a buck.”

“Ken! Why is there a big yellow van in the drive way?!,” my grandmother questioned.

“JUST TRYING TO MAKE A BUCK!,” he bellowed back…he always bellowed.

“How much did this ‘buck’ cost us?”

“IT WILL PAY FOR ITSELF!”

He was frequently purchasing items at auctions and garage sales and turning around to sell them for a prophet…sometimes.  If he had lived in the Social Media era, think of what he could have done with a Facebook account…probably nothing good…

At one point he invested in a vacant building on the East side of Wadena, Minnesota and opened up his own antique shop.  I am not sure if this broadened his ability to “make a buck,” or simply sent him in a great need to make some bucks as he continued to buy antiques and knickknacks to place in his shop.   He purchased a wide variety of items including old phonographs, baker’s cabinets, antique desks and decorative vases.  I remember one of the more unique “vases” he brought home from an auction.

“Oh what a unique vase!,” my grandmother cooed.

“YEP, JUST NEEDS A LITTLE CLEAN UP, TO GET THE BLACK BURNED CHAR MARKS OFF OF IT!”

“Mom, that’s not a vase,” stated my visiting uncle while holding back a half smirk…”It’s a bong!”

Since cannabis was not yet legal in Minnesota in the late 80’s and early 90’s that little treasure never made it into his Why Not Stop In Antiques shop.  Yes…he named it himself.

To haul all of these wonderful treasures he invested in the previously mentioned large yellow cargo van.  The van gave him nothing but trouble from day one.

I still remember him bellowing through the blue tobacco smoked air of the dining room, “ROSE! IT LOOKS LIKE I BOUGHT A LEMON!!”

My grandmother had a way of just ignoring him and continued to provide us fresh baked cookies in the kitchen while he ate his own smoke flavored marshmallow crèmes while chain smoking his marlboro’s

“I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN WHEN THE SOLD IT TO ME!” he continued when my grandmother didn’t acknowledge him, “THE DASH LOOKS LIKE THE LAS VEGAS STRIP! EVERY LIGHT IS ON IMAGINABLE!!”

We all have times of regret.  Sometimes we call it buyer’s remorse, like when we buy a “lemon” or a bong that we can’t sell and will only lose money on.  Other times we experience it when we don’t execute a task like we knew we could have or should have. Still other times, like yesterday, when you put off replacing the brakes, only to find that before you get to the State Track and Field Meet, they are grinding like a locomotive stopping for a cow stuck on the tracks.

In Matthew 24:29-31, Jesus continues to provide signs of his coming.  He also begins to reveal the regret and mourning that will be experienced from those who do not put their faith in Him.

May we come to find ourselves NOT regretting.  Rather, let us put our faith in Jesus today.