October in southeastern Idaho is the time for sugar-beet harvest. Sugar beets, which look like very large turnips, are used to make white sugar. The beet harvester digs the beets out of the ground and loads them into trucks. Then the trucks haul them to the beet dump. At the dump they are unloaded into great huge piles, waiting to be taken to the sugar company and cooked down into sugar. Harvest is a very busy time with everyone working hard to get the beets out before winter. Even the farmers’ wives help out by driving the trucks.
A young man named Jaime worked for one of the farmers. Near the beginning of harvest one of his jobs was to scrape the dirt road with a tractor to make it smooth for the trucks to drive on. That day he had put his wallet with $2000 cash inside into his back pocket. Most of us wouldn’t think of carrying that much money in our back pocket, especially out in the field on a tractor. Jaime probably wasn’t very wise to take his money to the field, but he had a reason for having that much money in his wallet.
Jaime had a brother-in-law in Mexico who wanted to build a house. He needed to borrow money, and Jaime had agreed to loan some to him. He had taken $2000 out of the bank and was going to exchange it for a money order which he could mail to Mexico. But while he was driving the tractor along the dirt road that day, his wallet fell out of his pocket and he didn’t know it.
Later that evening when he discovered that his wallet was missing, he was terribly upset. In thinking back over the day, he knew it must have fallen out on the dirt road. He spent all the next day searching along the three or four miles of road for his wallet. It was almost like looking for a needle in a haystack. He told the farmer he worked for what had happened and how anxious he was to find that money.
The farmer and his family were Christians and they had often prayed for Jaime, that he would realize that he was a sinner and needed the Saviour. They told Jaime that they would pray and ask the Lord Jesus to help him find his wallet. Every night after they came in from harvesting, they prayed about that wallet and, more importantly, that Jaime would find the true riches of faith in Christ that can never be lost.
Five days went by and no wallet was found. On the morning of the sixth day as the beet digger was loading one of the trucks, one of the main chains on the digger broke and got tangled up. It was a major breakdown and would take time to fix. The truck drivers all helped pick up the beets that had scattered on the ground and then stood around waiting until the beet digger was repaired.
It was a little chilly standing around, so two of the drivers, Liz and Kris, decided to take a brisk walk to warm up. They started down the dusty dirt road, talking together and enjoying the fresh crisp morning. After a while, they turned and walked back the other direction to stay fairly close to the trucks.
As they walked along, Kris saw something black in the dust that looked like a comb. She picked up the flat black object and brushed the dirt off and said to Liz, “Look at this! I wonder what it is?” Liz gasped and yelled, “You found the wallet that was lost!” And sure enough, when they opened it there was the thick wad of money inside.
What an exciting moment to find a valuable treasure half buried in the dusty road where the big trucks had driven for the last five days. They ran back to tell the others what they had found and share the excitement. Then the farmer and the truck drivers bowed their heads and gave thanks to God for the events that led the ladies’ steps right to the wallet.
Vince, one of the other drivers, took the wallet right over to Jaime who was in another field. Jaime was very happy to see his lost money again. Vince asked him if he would like to thank God for allowing his wallet to be found. Jaime answered that he didn’t know how to pray to God, so he asked Vince to pray for him. Jaime was amazed to hear someone speak so openly to God, so Vince told him that he, too, could go directly to God the Father and speak to Him and ask Him to cleanse his heart from sin. Jaime nodded and agreed that it might be a good idea.
We don’t know if Jaime has done this yet, but we hope he won’t put it off. It is the most important decision of his life and will assure him a treasure far more valuable than $2000 - one that can never be lost! “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth . . . but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven” (Matthew 6:19-2019Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: (Matthew 6:19‑20)). Letting God cleanse his heart from sin will assure him of a home in heaven with all its wonderful riches.
God showed Jaime that He cared for him by so small a thing as a found wallet, and now He has given Jaime the opportunity to accept His only Son as his Saviour. There is only one way to come to God and that is through the precious shed blood of His beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me” (John 14:66Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6)).
ML-03/01/1998