Treasure Hunting

This past weekend I went to Crater of Diamonds State Park and got to hunt for diamonds. God-incidentally, the text for this Sunday was about a man who found a priceless treasure in a field and he sold everything so that he might possess it and another short parable like it regarding a merchant and a pearl. I noticed a spectrum of different treasurer seekers at the state park and there are some obvious parallels for the church.

First, for those of you who are unfamiliar with the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfressboro, for a slight admission you enter the park, rent equipment and become a diamond miner. It's a bit like paying to pan for gold out west if you have ever done that. Anyways, getting to the parallels. I noticed that there are a spectrum of treasurer hunters. There are:

Dreamers--One woman picked around in the dirt for a bit and then laid down. Rightfully so. It was hot. Her daughter came along and asked her, "What'cha doin' mama?" Mama says without sitting up and with some laughter, "I am huntin' diamonds. I'ma gunna lay here. Fall asleep and dream about diamonds. Then I'ma gunna wake up and find them layin' in the dirt around me." She laughed and was very jovial about it all. Some in the church are dreamers. They show up hoping to find God. They will laugh and have a good time with friends and family. They aren't likely to invest much effort. Once the experience grows old, if they haven't found what they are looking for they will move on.

Pickers. Most the pickers where novice folks like me. They rent a shovel, bucket and some screens for sifting dirt. They don't really know what to do with the equipment, but mimic what they see or ask questions until they get it. They pick away at the dirt literally and figuratively. Their is a fair bit of camaraderie among pickers. They share collective bits of wisdom that may or may not be true. They lack much experience of their own, but are a bit more committed to searching than dreamers. They will rent the equipment, but are not likely to buy it. So they have limited investment but do put out some effort. They are in the church to.o They may attend Sunday School class or hit a retreat or two. They may do some service work to the church. But its not necessarily a big priority. They pick a good likely spot and give it a good try, but if something conflicts too heavily they are probably out of the picture.

Trawlers. These are the folks who walked up and down rows of ploughed field in the hope of finding a diamond lieing on the surface. They may pause momentarily to look at a clump of dirt like a likley suspect, but the never dig beneath the surface. Their strategy is to hopefully cover enough ground to happen across a diamond. In the church, trawlers bounce from activity to activity without ever really investing into anything to any depth. They are often times people who read alot, but don't necessarily apply what they learn. They jump from group to group and activity to activity hoping to stumble into a blessing.

The Serious Hobbiest. These people are invested. They own their own equipment and visit the park regularly. They have techniques for how they do what they do. They are head smart on diamonds and may even have experience finding some. Some of these folks know just enough to be annoying. Those serious hobbiest who do can even get a bit stand-offish to new people. Novices don't always take it as seriously in their eyes as they should.

Lastly are the Lifers. As you walk toward the field from the visitor center at the park on your left is a large plague in honor of a man named James Avers. Don't miss it. James when he retired spent six days a week mining diamonds. He worked at it for over 30 years. He loved it. It was his passion. He enthusiastically and generiously shared with anyone with half an interest. He was beloved and his face and name became nearly synonomous with diamond mining in Murfreesboro. Diamond mining was not something James did, it was who he was. He was a diamond miner. He found over 5000 diamonds and put his kids through college on those diamonds. Diamond mining was his life.

There are Christians like James. Their faith is not a casual interest or serious hobby. It is who they are. Their faith is their life. Their faith effects everything in their life. They are filled with Joy about it. They do not regret or begrudge a moment of time spent on it. They want others to share that joy.

I discovered something my day in the field. Treasure hunting is not a rational task. Expending your life treasure hunting is irrational. A merchant selling everything for a pearl is irrational. A man selling all he owns to own a field with a hidden treasure is not rational behavior. But to those who do it, there are no regrets and they could not imagine life any richer.

What kind of treasure hunter are you?