What is the real value?
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Faith Fitness
Bro. Sam Kaufman
I was into baseball card collecting when I was younger. The remnant of that collection remains scattered abroad through closets and a bedroom.
It started out as a hobby, but it wasn’t long before the card value became an objective. Even as a youngster, I was looking for an investment for the future.
Back in the day, I could earn around $10 or $11 for mowing the yard – both front and back.
That was enough to purchase an unopened box of baseball cards. Me and my buddy were so industrious when it came to cards, that we would hunt for aluminum cans to recycle. A good day of can collecting could bring in $10 to $15 for cards.
We traveled to the mall on our bicycles to make our purchases.
I vividly recall heading to Newberry’s (a five and dime store) in January or February of 1980 to see if the new Topps baseball cards were out.
We waited anxiously and were thrilled when they came in. In this case, Newberry’s literally had what appeared to be hundreds upon hundreds of rack packs (three packs in cellophane) hanging from an aisle.
We didn’t know at the time that 1980 would be a great year for Topps baseball cards. We purchased a ton of them!
My favorite player was Jim Rice, and my best friend loved the Oakland A’s and an up and coming rookie named Rickey Henderson.
In all the packs we opened, we pulled numerous Rickey Henderson rookie cards. Back then, we put our good cards into plastic sheets in binders.
Fast forward about 45 years to when I am much older, serving God and not collecting cards anymore.
Rickey Henderson had an amazing career and became the all-time MLB stolen base and runs scored leader. He retired around 20 years ago and is a Hall of Famer.
The sad news is that Henderson died about a month or two ago from pneumonia.
I think I saw somewhere that Rickey was a born-again Christian, which is the requirement to see the kingdom of God.
But I also discovered in recent years that those 1980 Topps Rickey Henderson rookie cards skyrocketed in value.
In tip-top shape, that card fetches six figures at between $130,000 and $180,000.
That’s almost unbelievable to me. I sold a lot of my card collection years ago, but I still have the Rickey Henderson rookie cards in a binder.
I would need to have them graded to find their specific value, but some of them look really good.
I also bought old Mickey Mantle and Hank Aaron cards when I was younger. Those cards also have a lot of value, as do many others.
Some people say older cards are just a piece of cardboard – which they are – but they also have sentimental value and fond memories of days past.
But what is the real future value of all those cards and every material object?
A preacher friend of mine always says the following: “It’s all going to burn up.”
Haha – he’s right.
God has been very patient with souls throughout the generations. His ambition is that all will accept Jesus Christ into their hearts. But there will be an end to the world as we know it, while a glorious future in eternity awaits those who know and follow God.
II Peter 3:9-12 states, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for a new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.”
