Are You Living a Coinstar Life?
Not long ago, I heard and read about an interesting trip a man made to a Coinstar kiosk. As many who read this already know, you can take your loose change to one of these kiosks and dump it all in there. You can then receive a voucher for the total amount (minus the 11.9% that the company keeps).
If you don’t choose to receive the voucher, you have the choice of getting an eGift card or making a donation to charity. I’m guessing that most people opt for the cash (or the voucher for cash).
Apparently, that is what this particular man I heard/read about had in mind when he took his change to a Coinstar kiosk. As I understand it, he poured his change in and received a voucher for $29.50.
What is so unusual about that? Isn’t this the way it is supposed to work?
Well, the rest of the story is that the coins he dumped into the kiosk were rare coins. While the face amount of these coins was somewhere in the neighborhood of $30.00, they actually “lived in a much more exclusive neighborhood.”
The value of these coins was estimated as being in the neighborhood of $33,000.00!
How would you like to be the person who discovered (too late) that you could have had 1,100 times what you received if you had only made the right choice? Just think about how things could have been different for this man if just a little thought, some insight, maybe some research, and some patience would have gone into his decision.
How many people make decisions and take actions that make this man’s story seem fairly insignificant? How many make shortsighted and unwise decisions that affect much more than our billfolds or purses?
How many men and women have “visited the Coinstar kiosk” in their marriages? They don’t invest all that it takes to establish and nurture a relationship with their spouses. Instead, they opt for the quick fix of an affair.
The applications of this story are almost without number. Countless numbers of people “visit the Coinstar kiosk” in their personal, social, and professional lives. They settle for what is quick, easy, and momentarily satisfying when they could have had a family, friendships, and/or a career that was meaningful and rewarding to both them and others.
As I was typing this, the lyrics to a song I have not heard in years came to mind. I believe that they may express at least a part of what I’m trying to communicate:
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
‘Till it’s gone?
While I would like for people to have rewarding lives in the areas of their lives I’ve already mentioned, I am much more concerned about our eternal destiny. I’m wondering how many are throwing away their opportunity for eternal life for something far, far less valuable and much, much more temporary in this life.
Instead of following the example of the person who made a foolish decision at a Coinstar kiosk, why don’t all of us decide to follow the example of one of the people included in that great “Hall of Faith” found in Hebrews 11 —
By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. (Hebrews 11:24-26)
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AUTHOR: Jim Faughn
