The Greatest Treasure of All

No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. John 15:15

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Some of the greatest memories of my youth are summers in the 1970s at beautiful Camp Chetek (aka Chetek Baptist Assembly) in northern Wisconsin. My twin sister Karen and I volunteered as junior counselors and kitchen staff for several summers during our junior and senior high school years. Just knowing summer and camp were coming would help get us through the bitterness of the Wisconsin winter!

The weeks at Camp Chetek were great, but the weekends even better. Chaos became peace when the last campers said their last goodbyes and were loaded into their respective buses or family vehicles. The camaraderie the staff enjoyed during the week increased tenfold when the crowds left. Those staying the weekend cleaned the cabins, organized supplies, straightened up the kitchen and dining hall and generally made ourselves useful—all the while talking, laughing and carrying on.

Each weekend evening a special activity would be planned. The most special were the sing-alongs by the waterfront after dark. A group of 20 or so would gather together and sing for more than an hour. Song after song after song.

One song I remember vividly is "Treasures." While I didn't understand the song experientially at the time, the truth of the message resonated.

Stock photo: Kozzi

Treasures

One by one He took them from me,

All the things I valued most,

Until I was empty-handed;

Every glittering toy was lost.

And I walked earth’s highways, grieving.

In my rags and poverty.

Till I heard His voice inviting,

“Lift your empty hands to Me!”

So I held my hands toward heaven,

And He filled them with a store

Of His own transcendent riches,

Till they could contain no more.

And at last I comprehended

With my stupid mind and dull,

That God could not pour His riches

Into hands already full!

In the innocence of my youth I could not have imaged the work God was going to do in my life. As I sat in the dark on those beautiful summer nights in Wisconsin, I, unwittingly, was clinging to a multitude of "glittering toys." But, thankfully, I was singing to a God who, out of His deep love for me, would one day reveal that to me. The price would be very, very high, but in the end I would understand God truly was the greatest treasure.

(Please tap here to hear "Treasures" in the special YouTube rendition created for the interactive e-book edition of Confessions of a Transformed Heart. Thank you, Pastor Jim Martin and Brett from Calvary Baptist Church, Elkins Park, PA, for singing and recording this!) 

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