One afternoon a little girl stood outside Pete Richardson’s antique shop studying the treasures in the window. Then she went in and asked to see a string of blue beads. When Pete set them on the counter, she said: ‘They’re perfect. Will you gift wrap them, please? They’re for my sister. She takes care of me. This will be our first Christmas since Mum died, and I’ve been looking for the perfect present.’ ‘How much do you have?’ asked Pete cautiously. Pouring a stack of coins on the counter, she said, ‘I emptied my bank.’ Pete picked up the necklace, the price tag visible to him and not her. ‘What’s your name?’ he asked, walking into the back room. ‘Jean Grace,’ she replied. Pete returned with a beautifully wrapped package, and the little girl thanked him and left. On Christmas Eve when the last customer had left and he was locking up, a young woman rushed into the store and handed him a familiar package. ‘Do you remember who you sold this to?’ she asked. ‘A girl called Jean bought them for her big sister,’ he replied. ‘How much are they worth?’ she inquired. ‘The price,’ Pete replied, ‘is always confidential between the seller and his customer.’ Her sister asked, ‘But how could she pay for them?’ Carefully rewrapping the present, Pete handed it back to her and said, ‘She paid the biggest price anyone can ever pay. She gave everything she had.’ When ‘God sent forth his Son’ (Galatians 4:4 KJV) to redeem us, He gave everything He had. ‘Thank God for his gift that is too wonderful for words!’
