“REED” This
Digging
I had an opportunity to use my metal detector this morning. It has been quite some time since I last used it. In the past, I have had a lot of fun discovering things around the island, on the beach, and especially on our church property on Marsh’s Edge Lane. Finding the pre-revolutionary war relics there was very exciting. Today, I was running the detector over a pile of dirt. The dirt had recently been dug up next to Cameron’s house as he unfortunately had to have some pipes replaced. I was curious as to what we might find since the house was built in 1920. At the top of the pile was dirt that had been three to four feet down in the ground. Whatever was in this part of the pile would probably be the oldest. I was hoping for some coins or something that would be dated back to the early 1900’s. Unfortunately, we only found one penny and it wasn’t that old. What we did find was a lot of bent nails, bolts, and other old pieces of iron. Some of which were so brittle they easily broke in my fingers. Along with the metal objects were a mixture of broken pieces of old clay pipe, old bricks, and broken glass. Some interesting things were a marble, a game dice, and a small wheel that had broken off a child’s toy. The most unusual find was a bride and groom cake topper. He first thought it might be a bone, but after digging it out and realizing what it was, Cameron said it was a little creepy.
Digging into the ground around an old house can bring up all kinds of stuff. A lot of the things that haven’t seen the light of day in a while could tell some interesting stories. A coin simply fell from someone’s hand as they walked by while bringing it out of a pocket. The bent nails may have been from the original carpenters who hit them wrong and simply tossed them away to grab another nail as they were nailing the boards onto the house. The broken pipes were simply the old ones that were replaced years ago, and the workers decided to just leave them buried. The toys were accidently dropped or left outside after they had been played with by children who used to live in the house. There’s really no way of knowing exactly how the objects got there, but they show that someone has been there before. People have walked, worked, and lived in that area at one time or another in the past. Those objects are signs left that they were there. Why they were there and what they were doing there are questions we can only ponder. What was their life like? Who were these people and what did they do?
Today also happens to be my father’s birthday. If he were still living on this earth, he would have been 83 years old. There are many questions I would like to ask him that I can only ponder now. I do know some things about his life. He shared with me some of the stories of him growing up and playing with his brothers and some of the crazy things they used to do. I know he was a chiropractor and enjoyed his work. He enjoyed hobbies like gardening, playing cards, fishing, playing sports, and painting. There are still a lot of little things I would like to ask him, but that most important question, I know the answer to that one. I know he was saved, and I know he is with the Lord, as scripture tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:8.
We see and meet a lot of people and we don’t know much about them. With them here, we have the opportunity to ask them questions. And as the Spirit leads, we may have the opportunity to ask them that most important question, “Do you know Jesus?” We need to get to know people and ask them that question before it’s too late. Jesus said in John 4:35, “You know the saying, ‘Four months between planting and harvest.’ But I say, wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe for harvest.” We must take advantage of the opportunity we have now. People need Jesus and they are ready to hear about Him. We simply need to share.
Bro. Paul Reed
Tuesday, February 8, 2022