Hidden treasure

If there’s a hunt for hidden treasure in an old bookstore or second-hand market, I’m in.

I’ve searched in some out-of-the-way places around the world and it can be fascinating. An adventure. You never know what you might find. 

Like that one day in Karachi… 

Seek and find

The old work camel pulled a cart of Bata shoes and ambled down the main road in front of us. We parked our car and headed on foot into the dusty heart of the old section of the city.  A juice wallah was shoving sticks of sugarcane through his press on the curb and selling metal cups of the frothy, sweet beverage to passersby.

We made our way through the warren of shops and flats, walking narrow alleys on broken pavement. The ancient buildings were so close and connected that sunlight barely filtered through.

The loud blare of tuneful bus horns faded, the deeper in we walked. We finally arrived at a cracked and worn wooden door and waited for the keeper of the place to unlock the rusty padlock and let us inside.

Treasures

What used to be a house now had no roof and the floor had long ago given way to grass and weeds and desert sand. Propped and piled in various corners were treasures of all sorts waiting to be found.

Basins, pails, heavy antique toy camels that rolled, candle holders, long-handled spoons and forks for stirring the pot. Most were black or dull grey, but we were assured that everything was either brass or copper.

The keeper would take whatever we bought and have it polished and delivered at a later date.

Reveal

So we picked through the piles and began to select a few things. We found a large pail, some carved candleholders, an impressive camel stirrup and more.

Then we went home and waited to see what the cleaning and polishing would reveal.

What had been black and filthy from years of neglect in these ruins—exposed to pollution, rain, heat, and dust—arrived at our home as beautiful copper and brass pieces: a carved water cup, a copper incense bowl, fascinating toys from another era, shiny brass pails that held our umbrellas and walking canes.

Persevere

Looking for treasure takes time. Perseverance. Patience. Sometimes it’s revealed in unexpected places.

When our sojourn in Karachi began, I found myself searching for signs of treasure in sand-swept neighborhoods and crumbling infrastructure. There were days the walls seemed too high and the corruption too deep, other times the violence and treatment of women weighed me down and took my breath away.

There’s no doubt I could have started down those narrow alleys or darkened pathways and given up all too easily.  But I was learning to take one step at a time and trust the One I follow: Jesus Christ.

Remember and rejoice

Today the brass and copper pieces from the old city aren’t so shiny anymore but I see them and remember. I remember treasures revealed in dark places.

And I rejoice in a Savior who didn’t avoid our marred and broken condition but became flesh and took up residence among us. Full of grace and truth.

I rejoice in the One and Only Son who came to seek and to save the lost.  In the midst of the ordinary, He revealed the extraordinary, glorious love of the Father and made a way for us to be restored to true relationship with Him. The perfect Lamb bearing our sin upon the cross, buried in a tomb, resurrected in victory over sin and death.

And He is still calling people out of darkness into His marvelous light.

What about you?

What’s your story? Found any treasure lately?

 “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession…” (Deuteronomy 7:6)