Class Syllabuses, WOW Pin, and By The Way articles on eBay

[Catcup]

I have had several people (both ex-TWI and those who've never been TWI) ask me why in the world would I sell this stuff and not just throw it away.

I sold some of this stuff for my elderly parents, who put the money to good use. They have to buy some awfully expensive medicines.

Plus, I have a daughter in college---$$$.

The real question is, what kind of person buys it? I am sure that there are lots of folks who "want to be like Mike." But there are others:

People looking to replace their lost WOW pins or Holy Spirit Doves because of what they still represent to them.

I have met folks who bought up my old Way material or people I gave Way materials to because they:

*liked the music on the SNS tapes

*liked some of the "other" teachers on the SNS tapes

*have bookselling companies and deal in used religious books and tapes in general

*collect quirky religious books and items from various religions and/or cults

*use the items as examples in cult recovery libraries

*use them in lawsuits against TWI

I also met an absolutely wonderful woman who bought up my syllabi, PFAL books, photos, and other Way memorabilia. She emailed me and told me she understood how so many people had been terribly hurt by TWI but she tries to cling to the good things she experienced there with her mother, and thanked me for making it possible to purchase these things.

She said she was raised in TWI and later left. But her mother passed away, and having these things from TWI around her, made her feel closer somehow to her Mom, because these things meant so much to her.

God later worked through this lady to remind me of His goodness and mercy-- twice, without any prompting whatsoever-- out of the clear blue sky-- this woman sent me flowers because all she knew was, "God wanted this done."

What she did not know at the time, is that both days she did this-- a month or so apart-- I had a particular agonizing event occur which hurt me terribly. And I came home to flowers from a total stranger, reminding me that God cares and understands.

She also sent me a music tape of just one particular song. The words of this song got me through a life-threatening surgery-- I listened to it constantly for 3 weeks beforehand. It was the last thing I heard before undergoing general anesthesia, and those words gave me the peace and confidence that I would make it through. And I did. I thanked her for it.

And I've never heard from her again.

But I'll never, ever forget how God worked through her, to remind me of His love and extend to me His peace.

You sure can meet some good folks on the internet.

[jardinero]

((((((((((((Catcup))))))))))

Thank you so much for posting those incidents. I've had similar things happen in the past few years through some particularly dark times that only a loving God could have known and orchestrated. It gave me an assurance of His love that no human voice could have convinced me of.

Very humbling and touching.

J.

[coolchef1248 @adelphia.net]

i say this

God worked through you all who went wow

you did it for God not for twi

wear them proudly and thank you for having the gumption for doing it be proud of yourselfs

[dmiller]

Chas -- did you sell the wow pin?? If not -- I'll buy it from you. :)-->

David

PT me if it is still for sale. :)-->

[outandabout]

I've always wanted to make my two WOW pins into earrings.

[ChasUFarley]

Many thanks to those of you who bid - I appreciate your business! I will probably be purging a few more things later this month.

I'm opening my own eBay store soon and have decided to quit my day job so that I can be home with the kids. I spent the weekend setting it up and eventually it will be a consignment store, specializing in children's clothing. There's nothing like that really in my area, so I think it will be a hit. I've been inspired by the success of this sale and really enjoy selling all together - packaging things up to mail seems to be the hardest part for me, but I'm less than a mile from the post office - good excuse for a walk right?

Next I think I'm going to sell my PT Cruiser - anyone interested? :-)

[GrouchoMarxJr]

I just now caught up with this thread...You mean to tell me that lcm told folks not to wear their WOW pins because they were old wine skins?...That's really sick!

Going WOW had nothing to do with lcm changing twi's doctrinal teachings...it had everything to do with the idealistic hearts of a lot of young people who wanted to serve God. No matter how screwed up twi was, the young kids who gave a year of their lives to do, what they thought, was God's will...was indeed a noble and great thing. I don't care if you were a Hari Krishna, a Moonie, or a follower of David Koresh...it was the pure intent of giving of yourself to help others and to be of service to God...it was what we THOUGHT we were doing...and I do believe that God looks on the heart.

OK, I won't sell my damn WOW pin...I suddenly feel differently about it.

...And ya know what?...We cared...and we tried...no matter how it turned out...nobody can ever take that away from us. Makes me wanna put my pin on and go visit twi hdqrts...old wine skin my foot.

[Tom Strange]

good luck to you chas! I have a friend who does an ebay store in his spare time... and he makes quite a good bit of money from it...

[ChasUFarley]

Thank you, Tom!

I'm excited about it - I spent the weekend setting it up and getting the first ten listing in it. I hit a decent buy at a yard sale on some Knowles collector plates, and entered those in the store. I'm going to get some of the baby clothing I have together, as well as some back-to-school children's clothing and list those. My goal is to make $125/week off it - that's all I need - to stay home with both the kiddos. I'm psyched!

[justloafing]

Groucho. Good for you :)-->