The Pack Rat

only did what we’d all do. He had more than he could use, and since there were no Public Storage or CubeSmart or LifeStorage facilities back in the biblical day, he built barns, lots of barns.

We hear about our pack rat when someone in a crowd surrounding Jesus yelled out, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” It’s a fight over money, and instead of channeling Judge Judy or Suze Orman, Jesus drops a parable about a man whose fields produced more than he could eat or sell. So he tore down his barns and built bigger ones. He said to himself, “‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’” (Luke 12:16-21)

This barn-stuffer reminds me of Pablo Escobar, the notorious lord of the Medellin drug cartel. At age 39 Escobar was a billionaire, and despite lavish living and his Robin Hood-style philanthropy—for schools, ball fields, hospitals and churches—he still had a problem: too much cash. Wanted in both the U.S. and Colombia, he couldn’t use banks. So his workers rolled up $100 bills and stored them in warehouses. There was so much cash to roll, in fact, that Escobar spent $2500 a month on rubber bands.

But at night the rats would slip into the warehouses and feast on the bill of fare. Escobar lost about ten percent of his wealth to rats.*

“Take care,” Jesus says to the man squabbling over his inheritance money, “and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

*from The Accountant’s Story, the memoir of Roberto Escobar, Pablo’s brother and the cartel’s top accountant. 

COMPANIONS ON THE WAY
Introduction
Stories of Turning
Week One
Stories of Wild Places
Week Two
Stories of Dogged Faith
Week Three
Stories of Mercy & Forgiveness
Week Four
Stories of Simplicity & Joy
Week Five
Stories of Prayer & Surrender
Week Six
Stories of Transforming Love

March 11, 2024 by David Anderson 3 Comments Filed Under: Abundance, Letting Go, Money