When you hear Lost & Found, your memory might jog you back to your school days and your favorite winter coat. But, what does Lost & Found have to do with antiques and vintage? Well, the name does have a double meaning and they are both special to me in their own way.
I started buying vintage and antiques at a very young age. Where I live there is an open air flea market that is still open 3 days every week. We're in South Texas and it's hot, dirt pathways, you can hear the sounds of Spanish music at every turn and the smell of Mexican spices...well, I still can't stomach that. And yes, I am Hispanic! It was a favorite place for my parents to go nearly every Sunday morning. I never came across rare antiques. Mostly, the items I found were broken, rusty, low end vintage and antique smalls. I couldn't afford more than that anyway. But I was still intrigued. I felt that everything had a story and my imagination would run away with made up stories of the owner and where the item had been.
Fast forward to my 20's. I married my husband who also loves to thrift. Match made in heaven! We both had full-time jobs and would thrift every Saturday. I started listing modern day items on ebay. This was before smart phones. We found that we did pretty well at reselling as a hobby. So we kept at it and grew with time and technology. Meanwhile, I was still buying vintage decor and furniture for personal use. I then started buying and reselling larger vintage and antiques locally. In 2010 my husband took an educated leap of faith and went full-time self employed. Eventually, I rented 3 booth spaces at a local antiques store. This is where Lost & Found Antiques Co. was born. I went through a few name changes and wrestled keeping the name altogether. No matter what I would come up with I felt a strong attachment to the name because of the deeper meaning.
Let me explain the first meaning. I always felt like the antiques that I bought were first bought by someone else who surely felt drawn to it as I am. They found it first. Eventually, the item became forgotten, passed down or unwanted and laid somewhere unused and out of sight, lost. It was lost and then found again!
The second meaning is this. I too was lost and then found. In the bible, there is a parable of the lost sheep. Luke 15:3-7 says, " So he (Jesus) told them this parable: 4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance."
I was this lost sheep, living a life of sin, living for myself with no regard for the One True God who gave me the very breath that I would blaspheme His name with. Yet, while I was still a lost sinner He called me to him through his gospel message. When I found out that according to God's word I was a thief, an adulterer, an idolater, a murderer; for God's standards are far higher than ours. He says if we even have hatred in our hearts, we've committed murder. I saw that without a Savior I was headed to hell. But God provided the ultimate sacrificial lamb to save anyone who would repent and believe in Him. John 3:16 says, "16 “For God so loved the world,[a] that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."
And this is why the name Lost & Found Antiques Co. is so dear to me. It is part of me. I was a lost sheep saved by grace through faith. It was a gift of God that is also now being offered to you. If you haven't accepted this free gift of salvation, please remember that no one is promised even the next hour. There are no coincidences, you've read this far for a reason.
Thank you, if you made it to the end of this blog. I hope that you'll come back and maybe we'll meet one day.