Going once....going twice....

GOING ONCE, GOING TWICE….SOLD!

I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw all the cars lined up on both sides of the highway and down an adjacent side street. What in the world? If there was a death in the family, the person sure did have a lot of friends and relatives. But, no….it was an auction. I can’t remember seeing that many cars line a highway in Cochran since our house almost burned to the ground about 20 years ago.

According to one of my children, the auction was a huge success. It almost looked like a party was going on. For some an auction is more fun than a party. I’m sure the auctioneer was a happy camper when he counted up his profits at the end of the day.

Actually no one is really sure when auctions began. Earliest records indicate that they could go back as far as 500 B.C. At that time, women were auctioned off as wives. It was even considered illegal to allow a daughter to be “sold” outside the auction method.

Today when you buy something at auction you’re stuck with it, even if what you thought was valuable turns out to be junk. Back in the days when women were being sold off, a buyer could get a return of money if he and his new spouse did not get along well; but unlike a horse, maidens could not be “tried” before auction.

Many years ago we had a family reunion and for fun we took everyone to the Montrose auction. That was in the days before the auction house had fancy TV monitors to show off their goods and a central heating and cooling system to keep the audience comfortable.

All of a sudden I saw a painting I just had to have. A young maiden was sitting at a piano with her right hand raised in the air and her left hand on the keys. A look of rapture was on her sweet face. The bidding got higher and higher and finally it was mine!

When I saw it up close I was horrified. The painting was atrocious. I didn’t realize her neckline was lower than proper and it was not an original. Everyone in our group laughed at my great purchase and someone dubbed her the “Pentecostal Hussy”.

About three years later we had another family reunion and we had everyone put their name in a pot and we drew for a winner of a secret prize. You guessed it…my fantastic auction buy. Later one of my grandchildren, so disappointed that she wasn’t the winner, came to me and said, “Grandma, how come all the names in the basket said Mary?”

Well, Mary and her husband John hauled the Pentecostal Hussy off to California and ever since then, we have bounced the old painting back and forth from coast to coast. To tell the truth I’m not sure who has it right now, but you can be sure she will reappear at the next family reunion.

One of my favorite poems, written in 1921 by Myra Brooks Welch, is about an auction. It tells of an old battered and scarred violin. The auctioneer was having a terrible time getting someone to buy the ugly looking musical instrument. The final bid was a meager three dollars.

From the back of the room a gray haired man came up and started playing the violin. When he finished, the auctioneer hit the gavel and began again… "One thousand, one thousand, Do I hear two?" "Two thousand, Who makes it three?" "Three thousand once, three thousand twice, Going and gone", said he.

The audience cheered, But some of them cried, "We just don't understand." "What changed its worth?" Swift came the reply, "The Touch of the Masters Hand." And many a man with life out of tune, All battered with bourbon and gin, Is auctioned cheap to a thoughtless crowd Much like that old violin. A mess of pottage, a glass of wine, A game and he travels on.

He is going once, he is going twice, He is going and almost gone. But the Master comes, And the foolish crowd never can quite understand, The worth of a soul and the change that is wrought By the Touch of the Master's Hand.

Those of us who have been purchased by the blood of Christ, remember when we were on the auction block of sin. We were slaves to sin, but Jesus felt we were worth the price and so he bought us with His blood. By doing this he revealed how much He values us. Where are you today my friend…on the auction block of sin, or in the family of the Son of God?