Search for "wisdom" as buried treasure . . .

[Olderthanwiser]

As you can see from the photos we found "buried treasure". It is appraised by comparable standards to be some very rare type nuggets that are worth more than 25% their weight in gold. That INCLUDES the quartz matrix that the gold is found bound to. 34.1 grams is the total weight and is a little over an ounce.

There is a testimony that accompanies this find and I just want everyone to be aware that we are trying to keep our temporal priorities subjugated to our eternal ones.

As everyone in America knows my Aussie and American grandchildren are metal detecting with my MineLab-3500. We spent our time "fossicking" in Wedderburn, Victoria, Australia. It is a little under two hours from my daughter's home to our targeted gold prospecting site. I begin each morning with a quick cup of coffee and my daily bible reading. I then load the kids (American cousins Aiden, Liam and whichever Aussie cousin gets to "skip"school that particular day to accompany Grandpa on an "educational" outing) into the car just as the winter sun is peeking over the sheep studded hillsides.

As soon as the sun comes up I have one of the kids recite the memory verse for the trip from Proverbs 16:16 :"How much better is it to acquire wisdom than gold, and to acquire understanding than choice silver?" We discuss the importance of "wisdom"and how hard it is to obtain. I have encouraged them to understand that the wisdom that God requires is like buried treasure . . it is NOT easy to find and you have to get down on your knees at some point in order to dig it out with your fingers. Spending time daily with the Lord in His word is where His treasure is buried.

My daily "treasure hunting" for that particular morning in God's Word was in Proverbs chapter 2:1-5

The Value of Wisdom

My son,if you receive my words

and treasure up my commandments with you,

making your ear attentive to wisdom

and inclining your heart to understanding;

yes, if you call out for insight

and raise your voice for understanding,

if you seek it like silver

and search for it as for hidden treasures,

then you will understand the fear of the LORD

and find the knowledge of God.

As we discussed the passage it was clear that they grasped that God's treasures were in " understanding the fear of the Lord" and acquiring the "knowledge of God". A good portion of our travel time was used to tell personal stories of our family's heritage and how God had allowed their parents and grandparents to discover God's treasure of wisdom and understanding through the events that He had allowed in our lives.

To aid in this effort I have "loaded" the IPOD with songs that re-enforce this lesson: Handels Messiah, "And the Glory of the Lord shall be Reveal-ed."(how God used this to redirect my life's mission focus from Bhutan to GA RTL), Non Nobis Domine from Henry Vth, etc. By the time we get to the goldfields, they have been duly catechised in regard to the difference between eternal values and temporal ones.

The day crept on from one "dry hole" to another. Their energy level and enthusiasm began to flag (as did mine). We had traveled all over this particular property stopping whenever we found what appeared to be a promising piece of gold-bearing quartz. outcrop. It takes the same amount of energy to dig a 14 inch hole in hard compacted rocky soil and come up with a bullet or piece of fence wire, as it does to dig up gold. Actually, it is a bit tougher because a small piece of wire is harder to find.

I decided that swinging a 15lb pick for the 30th time that day was getting a little old so I told them we would stop at one more place before leaving for the day. I don't know why it didn't occur to me that the most promising place to dig gold was in close proximity to where gold had been FOUND by previous generations. Our property line was 50 yards from a working goldmine. It was apparent from the scattered surface quartz that the quartz reef extended onto our property. Within a few minutes we had three loud pings which "shouted" gold from the headset of my metal detector. (See attached picture). Imagine our joy when upon cleaning the presumed piece of "rusty iron" it suddenly turned into yellow gold.

On the way home I told them that we had "other treasure" to mine and that it was found in the glove compartment. Sceptically they opened the "glove box" found 5 pages of parchment style writing. On the parchment was printed the 49 Character qualities (and their definitions) all found in the book of Proverbs, compiled by IBLP . I told them to select a "nugget" of wisdom and commit it to memory before reaching home. That way when their cousins asked if they had found treasure, they could truthfully reply, "Yes, I found 'truthfulness, compassion, contentment, etc." And that is what they did.

I am happy to report that there is no grumbling when I suggest we commit a few more "nuggets of wisdom" to memory. For some reason they have come to equate the acquiring of God's wisdom as a crucial part of life's process of discovering the temporal blessings that God bestows on those who love Him and keep His commandments.

[HighPlainsSifter]

UM....huh.....um....huh......ok......um......thanks....

As we no longer have a Politcal section and religion and Politics are the 2 main topics that gets peoples dander up....can we not have a religious section too?

[Capt]

Ditto, The most controversial part of my past was made up of very religious and very nerve wracking anti-religious work with victims. I'd rather not see it around, nor would I care to comment on the experiences I saw or heard about.

[Jim Gilmore]

Ditto, The most controversial part of my past was made up of very religious and very nerve wracking anti-religious work with victims. I'd rather not see it around, nor would I care to comment on the experiences I saw or heard about.

Religion or political belief aside.. I see NO Photo's.... NO PROOF...

[Capt]

Religion or political belief aside.. I see NO Photo's.... NO PROOF...

NO need to know..... NO DOC's

[Olderthanwiser]

Here is the proof.

[Capt]

Here is the proof.

Have to say those are mighty purdy.