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DIECAST
Collectible Model Cars And More
| Item# |
Description |
Stock
Status |
| 73113BFR |
Motormax
- Old Mini Cooper Hard Top w/ British Flag (1:18 scale diecast model, Blue) 73113BFR |
New |
| 4023D |
Kinsmart
- Chrysler PT Cruiser (Asstd.) 4023D |
Restock |
| 5070D |
Kinsmart
- Chrysler PT Cruiser Convertible (1:34 scale
diecast model,
Asstd.) 5070D |
Restock |
| 2527DK |
Kinsmart
- Ford Woody Wagon Key Chains (1949, Asstd.) 2527DK |
Restock |
| 2532DK |
Kinsmart
- Ford Mustang Key Chains (1964, Asstd.) 2532DK |
Restock |
| 5091DF |
Kinsmart
- Ford Mustang GT Hard Top (2006, 1:38 scale
diecast model,
Asstd.) 5091DF |
Restock |
| 4022D |
Kinsmart
- Ford Thunderbird (1955, Asstd.) 4022D |
Restock |
| 4008/16D |
Kinsmart
- Funny Collection (Asstd.) 4008/16D |
Restock |
| 5105D |
Kinsmart
- Golf Gart (4.5", Asstd.) 5105D |
New |
| 5309DD |
Kinsmart
- Mercedes-Benz ML-Class SUV (5", Asstd.) 5309DD |
New |
| 5095D |
Kinsmart
- Mercedes-Benz SLK-Class Hard Top (1:32 scale
diecast model,
Asstd.) 5095D |
Restock |
| 5096D |
Kinsmart
- Opel Speedster Turbo Convertible (2003, 1:32 scale
diecast model,
Asstd.) 5096D |
Restock |
| 5103D |
Kinsmart
- Snow Turbo (5.25", Asstd.) 5103D |
New |
| 4019D |
Kinsmart
- Toyota Echo (Asstd.) 4019D |
Restock |
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Lu
Toy Wonders, Inc.
www.toywonders.com
201-229-1700
God
and The Art of Toy and Diecast Car Marketing
The Parable of the Talents, Retold
By Lu Su
For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants
and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents,
to another servant two, to another one, to each according to his
ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents
went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more.
So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But
he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground
and hid his master’s money. Now after a long time the master
of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he
who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five
talents more, saying, “Master, you delivered to me five
talents; here I have made five talents more.” His master
said to him, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You
have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter
into the joy of your master.” And he also who had the two
talents came forward, saying, “Master, you delivered to
me two talents; here I have made two talents more.” His
master said to him, “Well done, good and faithful servant.
You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much.
Enter into the joy of your master.” He also who had received
the one talent came forward, saying, “Master, I knew you
to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering
where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid
your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.”
But his master answered him, “You wicked and slothful servant!
You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I
scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with
the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was
my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it
to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will more
be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who
has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless
servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping
and gnashing of teeth.”
When the Son
of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he
will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all
the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a
shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place
the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King
will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed
by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty
and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I
was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I
was in prison and you came to me.” Then the righteous will
answer him, saying, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and
feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you
a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when
did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?” And the
King will answer them, “Truly, I say to you, as you did
it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”
Then he will say to those on his left, “Depart from me,
you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his
angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty
and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome
me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you
did not visit me.” Then they also will answer, saying, “Lord,
when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or
sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?” Then he
will answer them, saying, “Truly, I say to you, as you did
not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.”
And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous
into eternal life."
As an aside
here, the etymology (did you use this word yet and impress your
spouse?) of the word “talent” is worth mentioning.
This word comes from the Latin talentum, which mean a certain
measurement of weight. Most of the cultures of the Mediterranean
world had a measurement of weight known as the talent, and from
very early times large sums of currency was measured in talents
of gold or silver (as early as Homer we have discussion of a talent
of gold). Unfortunately, the exact weight of a talent is still
a mystery to us. As time went on, the word “talent”
eventually came to be used as a sum of money rather than a measure
of weight (as the use of "pound" in England, for instance).
So then how much is a talent worth? The Greeks give us some insight
here. The Greek word drachme (usually spelled "drachma"
in English) was one day’s wages for manual labor. And we
do know that in classical Athens (c. 5th cent.) a talent was worth
6000 drachma. This then translates to over 16 years of wages.
Given that the average life expectancy of ancient Greeks and Romans
to be somewhere between 18 to 25 years of age and if not too many
leaps were made here; a talent represented a very large sum of
money –an amount of money representing more than a life
times’ worth of wages for the common man. Incidentally In
2006 the medium annual income for Americans was around $46,000.
The 2006 medium annual income for Ugandans was $280. End aside;
return to parable of the talents (I bet you can tell that I was
a programmer once upon a time).
A certain
American, who grew up in a small town, lived a full life and died
in 2008. Like all the other servants that preceded him, he had
to settle accounts with the Master. It is akin to a man departing
a casino; he settles accounts upon his departure, for the casino’s
chips are worthless upon his exit. “So tell me my servant,
what type of return did you make with the talents I lent you?”
asked the Master. “Servant? Talents? What is this all about?”
questioned the man. The Master replied, “It is quite simple.
I am the Master and you are my servant. I placed you in one of
the wealthiest countries in the world, made you sentient, gave
you a lucid mind and clear speech, you were provided with the
best medical care, you were given a very high level of education,
and I gave you more than 3500 times the amount my servant in Uganda
received –for he only lived a short time, but in that short
time he was able to take the two talents and double it,”
replied the Master. “As you can see, your life was 3 times
longer and I have made a tremendous investment in you. So what
did you do with the 7000 talents I had lent you?” asked
the Master. “Look, I didn’t realize it was your money
and I didn’t know that I was responsible for generating
some type of return for you,” defended the man. The Master
asked, “Are you attempting to plead ignorance here?”
The man replied, “Look, I just didn’t know.”
“Correct me if I am wrong, but ignorance is not a valid
defense in your courts of law. I assure you that the moral and
ethical standards of my courts far exceed any earthly standard.
So if ignorance doesn’t work in your courts, I assure you
it will not work in mine,” stated the Master with a calm
and resolute tone.
“I suppose
the money that you had lent me went to the purchase of some real
estate, two cars, stuff to fill the house, entertainment, and
a 401K,” answered the man. “You were free to invest
it the way you seem fit, but explain how those types of investment
have helped me?” asked the Master. “Help you?”
asked the man. “To be more specifically, please explain
how those investments have helped feed the hungry, welcome strangers,
clothe the naked, help the sick, or help minister to those in
prison?” asked the Master. The man fell silent and gave
no reply. “You know that I have this worthless servant that
actually buried the talent I gave him and in the end returned
the talent to me soiled and with no interest,” stated the
Master. Then the man to his chagrin realized that he had spent
his Master’s talents on himself and could not even return
what was originally given to him. Then he thought of something.
“Hey, I paid a lot of taxes during my stint on earth. I’m
sure a good chunk of my….I mean your money went to help
those welfare kinds of people,” defended the man. The Master
responded, “Only a small portion of the taxes you paid went
towards entitlement programs that help ‘those welfare kinds
of people’. The great majority of the taxes are appropriated
towards social security, defense, interest, and other items that
support the security, legal and transportation system -which you
seem to have directly benefited from. You had access to every
airport in the world. You had access to millions of paved streets
and highways in the country that I had put you in. These ‘welfare
kinds of people’ did not have access to all those things
you apparently had taken for granted. You were a bigger beneficiary
of ‘welfare’ than say my servant living in the projects
in Alexandria, VA. From my point of view, you have been paid back
in full” The man realized that he had squandered the Master’s
money. “What was required of you was to love me and to love
others,” said the Master. “But I did love others and
I personally invited many of them to my home,” replied the
man. The Master responded, “If you love those who love you,
what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.
And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is
that to you? Even sinners do that. The people that love me are
held to a much higher standard.”
From my perspective,
giving time, money or both to a person that has no way of repaying
you back is one of the most generous gifts and fastest way to
provide a return on what has been lent to us. I found that trying
to coerce people into doing something by appealing to their guilt
or pride is short lived. What work much better is to appeal to
a person to do what is right and simply ask them to do what is
expected of them. If all the servants could just bring one child
out of poverty, what a change we could make in this world. What
a change your child would see.
I know many
of you are already actively involved in serving. But if you are
not involved or would like to get more involved but don’t
know where to start, here is a non-profit organization that I
personally recommend: www.worldvision.org. For about $30/month
you can sponsor a child and make a life changing difference in
their lives. World Vision is a humanitarian organization that
was established in 1950 and is dedicated to working with children,
families and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential
by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice. Unlike many other
more widely known and advertised organizations, this organization
boasts one of the highest ratios in terms of allocating fund it
receives into the programs that benefit your child. Their current
allocation is 87% for programs, 8% for fundraising, and 5% management
and overhead. Later, if you are so inclined, you can even meet
your sponsored child. But if you do, be prepared to be shocked
to see how much crime and poverty that surrounds them; and it
might even break your heart to see the lack of basic necessities,
like clean water, clothes, or a cement floor to sleep on. I’ve
personally spoken directly to World Vision staff members and to
sponsored children. They are very real, they exist, and they need
help.
