Yesterday, my husband and I took a vacation day and spent the day together. We had so much fun! We started the day at the Mecum car auction at the Indianapolis State Fairgrounds. It was my first time attending a large car auction. I posted on my social media page that there were too many choices—I just couldn’t decide which car I liked more. There were so many beautiful cars, all different kinds. The one thing they had in common, they were all for sale.

We were quite surprised at the lack of interest in some of the cars we expected would sell for high amounts. Even the auctioneer seemed annoyed at times, when a beautiful car would come up on the auction block and no one would bid. If you were looking for a deal, Friday in Indianapolis would have been the time to buy a car! One of the first cars that came up for bid was a 1962 Volkswagen Bus with a matching custom camper. It was beautiful but I was shocked when it sold for $100,000! Other cars that we expected to sell, barely made it off the auction block. My husband stood in disbelief as a 1963 Dodge 330 with a 426 Hemi, sold for only $32,000. As a car enthusiast, he just couldn’t believe the lack of interest.

Leaving the auction that afternoon, we headed home for a short rest and then back out to Anderson Indiana to see Air Supply in concert. For anyone who was a teen in the late 70’s and 80’s, Air Supply wrote some of the most iconic love songs of the era. Now at 73 and 74 years old, they are still touring and blessing audiences with their beautiful love songs and harmony. I couldn’t help but think, as I watched them close out the show with one of their biggest hits, who the author of love really is. As the audience belted out the words in unison, The One that You Love, I felt my heart tugged by the words.

Here I am
The one that you love
Askin’ for another day
Understand the one that you love
Loves you in so many ways

Flip those words around just a little, and you will have a picture of the gospel.

Here I am
The one that loves you
Askin’ for another day
Understand the one that loves you
Loves you in so many ways

Do you see it? Look at the beauty of our creation—the sunrise, and the sunset—the waves crashing on the ocean—the song of the robin in the springtime—the laughter of a child playing in a sprinkler. We have so many reminders everyday of how much God really loves us. Do you realize that our value is fixed? God’s love doesn’t change with the economy, or the market, or even with time itself. Unlike the cars at the auction yesterday, our value with God is fixed and He loves us more than our broken hearts and minds can even understand.

Romans 5:8, “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” God didn’t wait until we cleaned up our act and got our life together, He left Heaven for the sole purpose of dying in our place, to take the punishment we deserved, upon Himself. The cross was not an afterthought, where Jesus stepped in front of God the Father and begged Him to spare us from His wrath. No! The cross was the purpose, from the beginning. The triune God, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, knew that we would need a way to salvation. What else could God do to show us how much He loves us? The cross shows it all!  

As I was reminded yesterday, listening to Air Supply and looking out at all those in attendance, time marches on! Someday all of us will stand in the presence of the mighty King of Kings and Lord of Lords. There is no escaping that reality. You can have the eternal hope in the love of Jesus Christ, not by washing and polishing your life to make yourself more valuable, but my simply accepting the love that Jesus has for you. Just as Air Supply sang last night, “Just as I Am”, you can come to Jesus, just as you are. He will do the restoring. You can trust that.