Tag: understanding

Treasure Hunter…

Goonies is one of my all time favorite movies, after all what kid can’t identify with at least one of the characters.  For those of you unfamiliar with the movie – Mikey, Brandon, Chunk, Mouth, Andy, Stef, and Data are a ragamuffin group who call themselves the “Goonies.”  In short they find a pirate’s treasure map and ultimately…. (well I can’t really tell you because that would ruin the movie.)

This got me thinking.  Who wouldn’t want to find a treasure map?  Who hasn’t dreamed of stumbling upon untold riches?  It’s the stuff stories and legends are made from.  It’s contagious and infectious…just look around your city.  How many times have you seen someone with a metal detector walking in a park or on a beach or in a vacant lot?  Those people are looking for treasure!

I can’t tell you how many forts and secret hideouts I built as a kid.  Each one was built around the premise of finding secret treasure.  Occasionally I would find something – usually an old tool or a piece of wire or even a rock that looked like an arrowhead.  Nothing ever very valuable – but it was the adventure that made it exciting.

The other day my wife and I were talking and she recommended that I read Proverbs 2.  (On a side note – I have the best wife in the world!)  So I started reading….

1 My child,listen to what I say,
and treasure my commands.
2 Tune your ears to wisdom,
and concentrate on understanding.
3 Cry out for insight,
and ask for understanding.
4 Search for them as you would for silver;
seek them like hidden treasures.
5 Then you will understand what it means to fear the Lord,
and you will gain knowledge of God.
6 For the Lord grants wisdom!
From his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

Did you catch that?  Read it again….

God calls us to be treasure hunters! He tells us to search for wisdom, insight, and understanding like you would hidden treasure!  And the best part is that we will find what we are looking for!

It’s about passion.  Treasure hunters hunt with passion.  They go after something full force and totally sold out.  I can’t think of a better way to follow God than as a TREASURE HUNTER!

Until next time…

Pastor Barry

Backpack…

Backpacks are awesome!  I just love mine – it holds a ton of stuff and almost anything I feel I might need during a day is in there.  My iPod, the charger, headphones, an external hard drive, a scan disk, an adapter, usb drives, pens, pencils, power cords, my macbook, mail from the last 2 weeks, my Bible… I think you get the picture.

In reality I need to clean it out….but what do I remove?  I’m sure the minute I take something out is the very moment I am going to need it.

But last week I decided I was going to do just that – clean it out.  I emptied EVERY pocket and let me tell you there are a lot of pockets – just ask my wife.  Many is the time that I have asked her to grab something for me and told her which pocket it was in.  But, trying to figure out which pocket is the back pocket or the pocket inside of the third pocket ends up only being a lesson in futility (which for the record is not her fault.)

So there I sat emptying everything out onto my desk…it was an amazing site.  There were piles everywhere!  I couldn’t believe how much stuff was in there.  Piece by piece I went through everything and you know what happened?  Yep – it ALL  ended up back in the back pack.  I didn’t get rid of anything I simply changed where I kept it.

We all wear backpacks in life.  Everyday we collect things and we stuff them inside.  Some things we keep on top and easily accessible.  Other things we bury deep down and hope to hide.  Some things we like and want to share with others.  Other things we hope no one ever sees.  The only problem is that the more and more things we stuff in our backpack the heavier it gets.  And let me tell you it can get very heavy and we don’t even realize it.

So today why don’t you sit back and empty your backpack.  Take inventory of what’s in there.  Find out what you want to keep, what you need to keep, and what you need to get rid of.  Perhaps you have guilt, anger, jealously, fears, failures, shortcomings, or any number of things, you need to get rid of.

Find someone you trust.  Find someone you know cares.  Find a pastor.  But find someone who can help you as you empty your backpack of the stuff you don’t need.

But, let me tell you it starts with Jesus!  He is the one who can and wants to help you lighten the load – these other people – they are the ones that can help keep you accountable during the purging!

So until next time…

Pastor Barry