My wife and I just had our 6th wedding anniversary and it is our tradition to celebrate it through the adventure of treasure hunting. Unfortunately Texas is not known for its mineral rich resources except for oil and gas, however we found a couple of locations to prospect as panning for gold in the Llano River and now trying to locate Topaz in Mason county which is the Texas state gem. Anyway we made it down to Mason late at night and with it being deer country we had to watch the roads very closely while driving. Unfortunately we hit a skunk on our trip but overall we had a safe trip up and back. So we met the lady who owned the ranch and she led us back on her property charging us 20 dollars a piece to mine all day. There has been several different colors of Topaz found on her land ranging from clear to blue to the more valuable yellow known as Imperial. The largest Topaz found in Mason County weighed 3 pounds or 1.36 kilos and is on display at the Smithsonian Institution. As she walked the area with us she pointed out several locations which produced gems and so we decided that our search would be centered on a relatively new area which had been exposed through recent erosion. Historically this place also had a large number of Native Indians and it was obvious as we began to shovel gravel as we found evidence of this by pieces of left over flint which had been worked in making arrow heads. So we dug a few holes over a period of a couple of hours and by that time we were both worn out with nothing to show for it. It was kind of funny though because it turned out that my wife was making deals with God and then me on finding that first gem as she is a lady who knowns how to capitalize on a situation and then after realizing that it was more work than it was worth she managed to watch me dig hoping to split the spoils with me. As I was thinking about our prospecting venture I realized that it always seems as if there is a counterfeit that mimics the real or authentic gemstone. In this case it was the competing quartz which had some similarities to Topaz but is was much lighter. It was at this point that I began to recognize that this situation is analogous to the Kingdom of God as their are counterfeit kingdoms of this world represented by false religions,cults, and philosophies which have caused many to tirelessly seek after worthless rocks thinking they had acquired true riches. However the enlightenment to this whole reality only comes after a person has uncovered the real thing at which point it becomes obvious as the genuine object reveals itself as the ultimate reality at which point the other things that a person has questionably collected becomes a heap of rubble in comparison. Lastly this reminds me of a couple of parables in the bible of some who found real wealth. Matthew 13:44-46
The Parable of the Hidden Treasure 44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
The Parable of the Pearl of Great Value 45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, 46 who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
Both of these parables depicts someone who really found something so valuable that they were willing to invest their whole life to possess it. My wife and I have looked for earthily treasures which is just a hobby and is nothing compared to the real treasure of finding Jesus who radically changed my heart towards loving God and others and apart from His saving work I could do no good thing. So respectfully my challenge to you is where is your treasure? Is it temporally stored on earth or does it have the promise of eternal life? Happy digging my friend!
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