The Couch Cushions : Washington Conference of Seventh-day Adventists Federal Way WA

The Couch Cushions

By Doug Bing, Washington Conference president

Did you hear about the Michigan man named Howard Kirby who simply wanted an old couch for his man cave?

He went to a thrift store, found one, bought it, and brought it home. After a few weeks, it seemed like one particular cushion just wasn’t as comfortable as it should be. His daughter decided to unzip the cover, and when she did, the problem was clear. She pulled out wads of cash — $43,000 to be exact. What would you do with that kind of windfall? I’m sure each of us could think of something to do with that kind of money.

Two years later, in 2022, a California woman named Vicki Imoto was looking through Craigslist and saw an ad for a free couch.

She was in need of a new couch, and the price was right. She brought home the free couch and noticed that one of the cushions didn’t feel right. At first, she thought it was a heating pad that had been placed under the cover. Upon further inspection, she discovered $36,000 in cash. Once again, one might dream a bit about what to do with such a windfall.

The common theme in these stories is that both couches had money, both couches had been given to the people trying to get rid of them, neither family getting rid of the couches had any clue the money was there, and — most interestingly — in both cases, the individuals who found the cash located the owners of the couches and returned the money. Legally, they had no obligation to do so. Yet both of these people knew that the money didn’t really belong to them and promptly returned the funds, even though both could have really used the money for themselves.

Are you tempted to explore your couch cushions to see what might be hidden there? I’m pretty sure the big find on my couch might reach all of 25 cents. Maybe, however, you are finding someone else’s funds on a regular basis. You know, the Bible says, “The cattle on a thousand hills are God’s” (Psalm 50:10). In fact, everything is God’s — including the paycheck that you receive.

Maybe we should think about our funds differently.

Maybe each time we get paid, we should have a little talk with God and tell Him that we found His money in our bank account again and that we want to return it. We would find that, in that conversation with God, He would tell us that He doesn’t want it all back but instead asks us to return just 10% of it — along with any freewill offerings we might want to give. That is a much better way of thinking about all the things we have.

In fact, if each person who is a member of this conference would have that conversation and faithfully return just the amount that God asks to be returned, there would be plenty in God’s treasury for the ministry that He has called us to do. We are living in a time when expenses are going up for families, businesses, and churches. Everyone could think of ways to spend money they find. Let’s instead come together as Christians and return to God what He asks of us.