My Search for Buried Treasure

As a child, I would love to gather what I considered “treasures” into a little box. These could be odd-shaped stones or pieces of glass, pretty much anything I considered “rare” — things I would treasure as being only and truly mine! Sometimes I would show my treasure box with someone special who I trusted, and they would show me theirs. But as we became older, we found our value systems were changing. Those childish trinkets were being replaced with pictures of movie stars and the latest teen heart-throbs cut out from magazines. As time went on, these idols took on physical form: record albums, cars, muscular boyfriends, etc. But the “shine” of all these “things” would ultimately fade, and the search would continue for that “buried treasure” that I was seeking to fill the empty hole in my life. “The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand forever.” (Isaiah 40:8 KJV)

My search took me out of my native country, and soon I was traveling all over Scandinavia looking for answers, looking for satisfaction, looking for my buried treasure. I hobnobbed with the elite class, dancing in the same disco that the King of Sweden frequented. I enrolled in one of the best universities in Scandinavia and studied mathematics, thinking that making lots of money would be the answer and was even offered a grant from IBM that would pay for my studies, if I would just sign my future over to them. But I was not ready to sacrifice my freedom for financial gain. From there I traveled to Israel and lived in a kibbutz, tried marrying an Englishman who introduced me to the high street class of London and the theater, but still, like Lord Byron, I cried out “I die of thirst!”

Discouraged and divorced, I returned to my roots, confused and lost, wondering if “treasure” actually existed in this world, or was this all just an empty illusion portrayed in Hollywood movies and soap operas.

Then one day it happened! While browsing through several superficial books at a university coffee shop, I heard a wonderful sound wafting through the air. A sound like I had never heard before — something that had been “hidden” from me till now. Was this my long-lost treasure? I could feel it speaking to me. It was the Spirit of Jesus, manifested through three bold Christian young people who had come to sing about the Love and Power of the One who came to save the world. This was it! My “pearl of great price” (Matthew 13:46)

And just like the man in the parable, the next day I went and bought the book of His love story to the world. I sold my old possessions, the things that would hold me back, and I started following God’s Word and His Spirit into “all the world” (Mark 16:15) to share this good news of the Kingdom in every country.

That was 50 years ago, 50 wonderful years since I found my “buried treasure”, that “pearl of great price”. And I have been walking with Him, my Heavenly Prince, ever since.