The Metal-Detector Man

I laid out my towel on the dry sand and sat down to watch the ocean. The sun beat down on my face, and I squinted behind my sunglasses so I could see the crashing waves in the distance. As I watched and smiled at the beauty before me, a white-bearded man with a baseball cap caught my attention. In one hand he held a gardening shovel and in the other a metal-detector. He slowly walked towards the water and then down the length of the beach, constantly waving his detector over the coarse sand. I laughed to myself at the sight. Whether or not he was picking up metal litter or looking for treasure, I don't know. But the sight of that old man in his persistent search came across as funny to me.

I continued to glance over at him occasionally as he made his way down the beach, but didn't pay close attention to him until he stopped and for several minutes waved his detector over a certain section of sand. He dropped his shovel and bent over, still waving. Had he found something? Before I knew it, he picked up his shovel again and continued on, walking and waving.

What had caused him to stop? Why didn't he start digging? I was disappointed. He was supposed to find a treasure! Moments before I had laughed at the seemingly meaningless task of walking up and down the beach searching for something that probably wasn't there. Now I was wishing he had found that mysterious object for which he searched.

I continued to think about this metal-detector man as I went back to watching the ocean and my family, who excitedly sculpted a sandcastle near the tide. Although I had considered him crazy at first, I thought twice about it now. What if he had found a treasure - a big one? I wouldn't have considered him crazy when his small shovel uncovered a treasure chest of gold. Here I was sitting, watching, and laughing at him as he persistently searched for what I figured was impossible to find. My family and others around me were building their treasures out of sand, into sculptures that would crumble as soon as the tide came in. But even though none went with him, people laughed at him, and others ignored him, this man continued on, searching for something that would last.

All this reminded me of what it means to be a Christian. It's searching and striving for a hidden treasure that is worth more to you than anything else you could possibly obtain. It's worth being laughed at by those standing by. It's worth far more than the man-made visible treasures of this earth which crumble before our eyes. It's crazy, but worth it.

I want to be like the metal-detector man and ignore the vain striving and mocking of the world, to pursue a far more valuable treasure in the end.

Matthew 13:44 "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field."