It was a cloudy and windy November day, so many years ago. I had just completed a job and was paid in cash. As my buddy and I drove away, it was not uncommon for me to temporarily stick the folded cash between my legs.
It was about a thirty-minute drive home and we decided to get some lunch. The McDonald’s we stopped at was on a busy street full of very large vacant parking lots for strip malls which had been demolished years before. Eight-foot fences dotted the edge of those properties.
We went in and ordered our food but when it came time to pay, I could not find the cash. I looked in every pocket. Then I looked again. No success! Then I went back out to the truck and noticed that a wad of cash was sitting by the door on the pavement. I picked it up and it was only half, and a panic had set in.
Immediately I thought of the great tragedy of losing an entire day’s pay. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye I saw one of the $20’s tumbling in the distance. Chasing it down I began to look frantically for the rest of the cash. The wind had driven it all over a parking lot that was the size of three football fields.
I began to pray passionately, “Lord, please, let me find at least half.” In the next ten minutes I found one $20 here and one $50 there. Some were baptized in a water puddle. Most were blown up against the 8-foot chain link fence and the rest were swirling inside a collection of leaves caught up in wind. I did find all the money and a great relief overcame me.
I was extremely thankful, and I repeated several times, Thank You Lord. Later I was reflecting on that moment, and I could not escape that mental image of me frantically searching.
I pondered; was there any moment where I had so passionately pursued anything else? When was the last time I was that motivated?
Jesus said, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal (I could add here, where forgetfulness and wind will scatter). “But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth or rust destroys and where thieves do not break in a steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Mt 6:19-21.
Jesus’ words are not anti-savings account. The purpose of Jesus’ words was to bring attention to what is the chief motive or concern in life.
That November day the chief concern was chasing down on that lost money. It was an all-consuming passion for about 15 minutes, and it should have been.
What lesson can we learn from this text and my mishap?
More on this next time, until then S.D.G.