[RR] The Hidden Gold Mine

[Bob Simons]

Heres a story I just finished-its kinda long but I think it would be a good devotion. Let me know wht you think, honestly. The Hidden Gold Mine by Bob Simons Living in the Southwest had its good points. Mild winters and lots of wide-open space. The summers were hot-unbearable at times, but the mountains were nice and cool then. Ghost towns and abandoned gold and silver mines were scattered every where. There were lots of neat things to explore. The lakes were inviting when it got too hot. The town of Tombstone was about 50 miles away, famous for its silver lode and also the shoot out between the Earp brothers and the Clanton gang. The Clantons got the worst end of the deal. There were also lots of legends about lost gold mines and hidden treasures such as the Lost Dutchman gold. Poor guy died with a pile of gold hidden under his bed and only a few clues where he got it from. He had ventured into the Superstition Mountains alone and came back with his bags filled of the heavy shiny metal. No one has ever found it. You could still see the old west if you got out of town on some dirt country road and watched as the cattle and horses roamed around. There were ranches still out there too. Some people still carried six shooters on their sides, even in town. You could picture a band of Indians coming over a nearby ridge or maybe they were just watching quietly from some nearby rocks or bushes. Could be renegades like Cochise or Geronimo ready to swoop down and take your scalp off. I shuddered at the thought but secretly admired the thrill of life on the edge. Some of the old ruins told stories of intrigue and mystery; of an age where there were few luxuries. Dirt walls and maybe wooden floors barely kept the heat out. At least a roof over your head would keep the sun and rain off. Maybe a fireplace built in the corner to heat you in the winters. Water had to be drawn from a well and there was the outhouse to hike to for necessity. Railroads had brought people from the east and towns sprung up here and there. Stagecoaches would make runs to deliver others along with the mail. Rattlesnakes and scorpions were abundant and if that wasn’t enough you had to watch out for cactus that might jump at you if you got too close. Coyotes howling at night as you tried to sleep under the stars. But the danger didn’t keep the people from venturing out west. Maybe that’s what they came here looking for. Danger and adventure go hand in hand. Can’t have one without the other. You just tried to hedge your bets and keep as safe as possible. Watch where you stepped or who you bumped into. I have explored some of the abandoned mines and found lots of nice rock and crystal specimens, but never any gold. At least if I did find some I didn’t recognize it. But then one day, as I was digging a trench for our water line to our house, I made a discovery. The old galvanized water pipe kept rusting through and leaking and I decided to replace with a new � inch copper line. That old pipe must have been over fifty years old, back when the house was first built and we had lived in it for about twenty of those years. It was a good solid house, made of concrete block with stucco over it. It was sunny and hot but at least I didn’t have to dig very deep. Twelve inches was good enough for the Arizona desert. It wouldn’t freeze even if it was only two inches deep. As I dug next to house alongside the old water line the dirt suddenly fell away. I stared at a hole going under the house, my eyes wide with shock. I quickly dug it open even more, eager to see where it went. There was a square trench going under the house but it was too dark to see how far or where it ended. It seemed to be an access for the water line. A crawl space for working on the plumbing, I guessed. I ran and got my flashlight out of my truck and came running back, sweat beading on my forehead, now mixed with the dirt that had accumulated from the digging. As I stood in front of the opening I noticed a cool breeze coming from the opening. It felt refreshing, and I dropped to my knees and switched on the flashlight. I couldn’t tell where it led to so I inched forward into the opening. It seemed to turn to the right about 15 feet in or wait did it go down? I crawled further in until I noticed that it did go to the right and down also. The water line went to the right. What was that sticking up from the shaft going down. I crawled closer and shined my light on it again. It was wood-old wood. Possibly a ladder! I looked down over the ledge and the light disappeared into a deep shaft. Wow, a mine, I thought. No it couldn’t be. What was a mine doing under the house. I looked up at the floor of the house. It was solid concrete. The house must have been built right over it. I threw a rock down the shaft and heard it thud at the bottom. Humm, must be about thirty feet deep. I could barely make out the bottom with my light. I shook the wooden ladder and it felt strong and heavy. A few of the rungs were broken here and there but other than that it appeared to be somewhat sound. I swung my legs over the ledge and grabbed the ladder. I slowly lowered my self down on each rung testing each one before committing my full weight. I creaked under my weight but it held me. When I got to the bottom I swung my light around and found another shaft going level. It was tall enough to stand up in most places. Some old wooden timbers were bracing up the ceiling occasionally. I scanned the floor and walls with my light. Rocks of differing sizes lay all over the floor. There was an old wooden box off to one side. I could barely make out the words " Apache Dynamite" stamped on the side. There was no lid on it and I could see that it was empty. I gave it a kick and the crashing sound echoed further down the shaft. A cloud of dust rose up. I wondered how long its been since someone has been down here. Further and further I went. There was another shaft going off to the side but it went only a few feet before stopping. My light flashed on something shiny at the end of it. I walked closer and focused my light on it. Beautiful, I thought. It was golden colored with other colors like a rainbow. I recognized it as Peacock ore, a type of copper ore that was common in Arizona. I still couldn’t believe all this was under my house. It was like a dream. I was getting hungry and I was beyond thirsty. I’ll have to come back and check this out later. I need to finish the water line. And get something to eat & drink. As I climbed back up the ladder I could see the light shining in from the opening at the side of the side. When I poked my head into the daylight I was almost blinded by the contrast of going from the darkness into such bright light. The heat was the second thing that I noticed as I climbed out of the hole. It sure was nice and cool down there, I thought. Thank you God for letting me find that mine under my house, I whispered. After I finished eating and drinking I finished laying my pipe in the hole and carefully sweated the joints together. My experience as a plumber, when I lived in LA, was paying off, I snickered to myself. The hole under the house kept the water pipe in good shape and I was able to tie in the new line there. All the next day, while I was at work, I thought about the mine under my house. I could hardly wait to get home and check it out again. Maybe it only a dream and when I get home it will be gone. When I pulled up in the driveway I grabbed my flashlight and headed to the side of my house. The hole was still there, alright. In I went and down the ladder. I made a mental to bring a hammer and some nail and a few boards to fix the broken rungs. Until then I just stepped on the side of the rung where it was still attached to the ladder good and strong. If it looked too bad I could just skip the rung entirely and go to the next one. Into the tunnel at the bottom and past the old dynamite box I finally got to pick up where I left off. I heard a thud sound as I ran over the ground in the corridor. I knew what that sound was from- a hollow sound. There was a hollow spot back there. I went back and stomped on the spot again. Thud, it sounded again, so I kicked at the dirt there and about an inch under the dirt was metal. I started cleaning it off to see what could be there. There was an edge and I slipped my fingers under the edge and lifted. I grunted from the weight as all the dirt slid off of it. I let it lean up against the wall and shone my flashlight in the hole. It was only about 2 feet deep but it had a couple of sacks in it. I jumped and and lifted one up and was surprised at the weight of it. It weighted as much as the big piece of metal covering the hole. I quickly set it on the edge of the hole and opened up the drawstrings that held it closed. Inside was a dull yellow metal that I recognized as gold. I grabbed the other sack and opened it up too. Wow, more gold. Who would have left this down here and why? My mind raced as I grew excited at the thought of its worth. At today’s prices it was probably worth about 100,000.00 Dollars. I started dreaming of ways to spend it. Then my mind thought about what God would want me to do with it. Where did that thought come from. I tried to put it out of my mind but it coming back. I knew that it was God speaking to me in a small voice inside my conscience. "I found it and I should spend however I want", I argued with God. Gently He assured me that I could but I may not be happy if I didn’t obey His will. "Ok God, you show me what I should spend it on but it better be good", I threatened. That week I went to church and had trouble keeping the gold off of my mind. No matter how hard I tried to focus on God and the preacher my mind kept wandering back to the gold. The worship seemed empty unlike the other days when I felt His presence filling me up. "What’s going wrong here God", I cried. "I don’t feel your presence and I feel angry and empty inside, but I should be happy because I found that gold." "Surrender it all and give it to me", I heard Him say deep inside me. "Ok, Ok, its yours. I’m yours. I need you more than all the gold in the world", I told Him. I felt a peace and joy flood over me as I could now get the gold off of my mind. I cashed it in and got a check for 98, 868.00. Wow, I thought, that’s a lot of money. I felt the urge to keep it but as the urge came I felt a sick dull ache come into my heart. I took it straight to my church and handed it to the accountant. She stared at it in disbelief at first and then she smiled. She then told me about how they were praying for a miracle to help build a new church in Mexico. They needed close to that amount to build the size building for ten thousand people to attend. I remembered the pastor sharing the need on Sunday but my mind was too occupied with the gold to give it much thought. I got excited at the thought of how it was going bless the poor people there who couldn’t afford a new building. She excitedly got up and ran the check in to the pastor’s office. I heard him boom out "Thank You, Jesus!" I went home happy because I knew that God was happy with the gift and I had fun finding a gold mine under house and could still explore it whenever I wanted. The next day I went back in the mine and started looking it over real carefully. I felt God urging me to go a little further into the back of the corridor, past where the hidden gold was. It seemed like a waste of time and was about to go back out when I noticed the string on the wall at the very back. It was dirty and blended in with the other dirt so I almost missed it. I pulled on it slowly and some dirt fell away from around it. I pulled a little more and a lot more dirt gave way and stopped. What was on the other end of the string. I couldn’t pull any harder without breaking it so I started cleaning away the dirt from around the string. I felt material like a cloth bag. I scrapped the dirt away furiously and there was another bag on the end of the string. I pulled it out carefully and noticed that it was very also. As I opened it up and saw the yellow heavy metal inside I started to think what God would want to use this for. No sooner had I thought that than I heard Him speaking to me again, "This is for someone that I love very much". "Who is this for?" I asked Him. He said very slowly so I would understand Him, "Its for you to use however you want." "Thank you" , I said, knowing that His love for me was more than enough to make me happy. No amount of gold or money could ever be enough to give me the joy that I wanted in my life. Having a relationship with the God of the Universe and knowing that He loved me more than anything in the world was worth living for and even dying for, if need be. That was more important than any gold. I pulled the strings on the bag shut and pushed it back into the hole in the wall. I brushed a little dirt over it and started heading out of the mine, whistling as went. "Thank you, Father", I said with a big grin on my face. Maybe someone else will come down here someday when I’m gone and find the gold and it will bless them. It’s God’s gold to do with however He wants. The end. Bob Simons   For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jer. 29:11 [EMAIL PROTECTED]