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Hidden
Treasure
Amanda
Reece hired a former high school classmate, Bob Kitts,
for a remodeling project in her 83-year-old home near
Lake Erie in Ohio.
As Kitts was tearing out the bathroom walls in
the home, he discovered two green metal lockboxes
suspended inside a wall below the medicine chest.
Inside the boxes were white envelopes with the
return address for “P. Dunne News Agency.”
Inside the envelopes was $182,000 in
Depression-era currency.
Patrick Dunne, a wealthy businessman,
apparently hid the money in the wall during the
difficult time period of the Depression.
What
was done with the money?
Kitts
and Reece couldn’t agree on how to split the money.
Reece offered 10 percent; Kitts wanted 40
percent.
One
month after the money was reported in the local
newspaper, descendants of Patrick Dunne filed a
lawsuit for their share of the find. The courts ruled
that twenty-one of Dunne’s descendants will each
receive a small share.
By then there was little left to claim.
Reece
testified in a deposition that she spent about $14,000
on a trip to Hawaii and had sold some of the rare late
1920s bills. She
also said that about $60,000 was stolen from a shoebox
in her closet but she never reported the theft to
police. Kitts
said Reece accused him of stealing the money and left
several threatening phone messages.
Reece
also declared that she was considering bankruptcy and
that a bank recently foreclosed on one of her
properties.
From
the events surrounding the discover of this “hidden
treasure,” it is no wonder
that the details of the story were revealed in an
Associated Press article entitled, “Cash
Found in Ohio House’s Walls Becomes Nightmare.”
The
words of Jesus address the situation: “Do not lay up
for yourselves treasures on EARTH, where moth and
rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal”
(Matthew 6:19). Paul’s
inspired commentary also seems fitting: “For the
love of money is the root of all evil, for which some
have strayed from the faith in their greed, and
pierced themselves through with many sorrows” (1
Timothy 6:10).
Instead
of laying up treasures on earth where thieves steal
and greedy people fight over fleeting treasures, Jesus
said we should: “lay up for yourselves treasures in
HEAVEN” (Matthew 6:20).
These heavenly treasures are the REAL
treasures. But
they are hidden from the view of those who focus only
on EARTHLY treasures.
Sin
disqualifies us from receiving those treasures...
but Jesus died on the cross so that we might have the
forgiveness of our sins (Ephesians 1:7) and eternal
“treasures” in heaven (1 Peter 1:3-5).
These
eternal treasures await those who: believe
in Him (Acts 16:30-31), turn from their sins in repentance
(Acts 17:30-31), confess
Him before men (Romans 10:9-10), and are baptized
(immersed) in His name for the forgiveness of sins
(Acts 2:38).
EARTHLY
treasures are fleeting and often mixed with strife!
Why
not focus on lasting, ETERNAL treasures that come only
through a relationship with Christ.
Won’t
YOU?
--
David
A. Sargent, Minister
Church of Christ at Creekwood
1901 Schillinger Rd. S.
Mobile, Alabama 36695
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