With the coming of the winter thaw, I have begun a new way to get out and get a little exercise as well as feed my curiosity about history. I got a metal detector about a year ago and am finally using it to find things. Most of my use has been in my own yard and nearby, but I have enjoyed seeing what lies just under our feet. To see some of my adventures, follow the link at the bottom of the page and watch a couple of videos of the fun I have been having. People have asked me what the fun is in walking around and digging up broken and forgotten relics of the past. I can't say that I have always had a good answer, but I know that I get excited whenever I find something interesting. I guess it has to do with the knowledge that at one time, each item was created for a purpose in someone's life and I begin to ask myself what happened. Did it just outlive its usefulness and was discarded? Was it lost and never used for its intended purpose? Did someone drop it and look for it and did they grieve over not being able to find it?
I also wonder about the people and the life they lived in a previous era. What would it mean to them to lose a dime? Probably a lot more than it does today. Whose picture was once in the broken locket I found?
Did a soldier lose this stirrup on his way back to the family farm after a battle and decide to hurry on without picking it up? What small child lost the toy cap gun decades ago and was it something that they had treasured as a Christmas present? Why were three spent bullet cartridges from three different caliber guns found stuck together by a blob of engine grease around the year 1900? What in the world could have been going on?
I guess my curious nature has taken over. Lately, I have found a lot of coins from different time periods. I have been hoping to find very old coins, but other than a 1918 wheat penny, I have found coins newer than 1965. They are the kind that are still used today. I have been cleaning them up a little and plan to save them up to buy an even better metal detector in the future.
It has made me think. Those coins began with a certain value attached to them. They were probably used to purchase things that helped individuals and families have a better life. They had a purpose and a worth. At some point in time, they were lost and taken out of circulation. Time began to bury them and soon no one even knew that they existed any more. Their ability to fulfill their purpose was gone. They still had the same value and could be used again, but were separated from a useful life by inches of dirt. They needed help. They needed someone to come along and detect them, dig them up, clean them off and restore them to their place of purpose.
Jesus has done that for so many people. There are people who have begun with a purpose and value and over time have found themselves lost and buried. They have found themselves separated from the purpose they were created for and stuck in the mud and doomed to the darkness of the earth. Jesus came and they reached out to Him. He dragged them out of the darkness and restored them to their original purpose again. He removed the effects of years of degradation and put them back into circulation again. He redeemed them from the darkness. That is the reason I named my youtube channel "redeeming316." I wanted to remind people that Jesus is the only one who can redeem your soul and restore you to his purpose.
John 3:16--- For God so loved the world, that he gave him only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.
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