Yellow Iron

I know it was just a movie, but it was good. An old fashioned, western movie; ending with the white men and the native people living in harmony with each other. Yes there was a fare share of gun fighting and dust flying as the bad guys fought with the good guys. It had all the elements of a good western movie made in the hills of a Hollywood set.

Setting this up…
The bad guys were trying to rile up the native folk to kill all the soldiers that were nearby. There was one good guy who seemed to be able to speak to the natives and the soldiers. He was of course a hero and central figure to the whole story.

One thing caught my attention was a statement made by one of the native folk when he was trying to make sense of the situation they all faced. He asked, “Why do they want the yellow iron?” Gold had been discovered by the white men that came into their area with good guys and bad guys fighting over the ‘yellow iron’.

The natives didn’t know the value of the ‘yellow iron’ and had little use for it. Everybody else did.

The thought about the ‘yellow iron’ has kept coming back to me as I traveled through my last few days. Something of great value sitting right under our nose, but we do not appreciate it or even know what it is.

A Great Discovery…
A story was shared with me of a man from Holland that was living in Indonesia, specifically the Irian Jaya area. He was working for a trading company. His hobby was that of collecting rocks of all different colours and shapes. The rocks were usually small enough to place in his back pack as he trekked through the jungle surrounding the small village that he worked in.

One day the Dutch trekker sat on a stone out-cropping to eat his lunch. As he sat looking out over the valley floor before him his foot moved and kicked over his water container. The water spilled over the rock and as it did it washed away the surface soil to expose a 4” wide vein of solid gold. What he first saw was only a small patch where the water washed it away. Brushing away more soil he saw that the vein continued on into the under brush and seemed to disappear into the mountain’s face. He had literally been sitting on a massive fortune.

This was the discovery of one of the richest deposits of Gold anywhere in the south-east Asia area – maybe even the world.

In my world… and yours…
I haven’t found any gold yet – though I did try panning for it in a stream we visited as tourists one time. But I have found veins of gold right under my nose and I haven’t recognized it. The rich deposits are right near me in the people that God has placed there. It appears in their ability to love and care for others.
Some times it is a mom that is there quickly to the side of her child’s bed. She sits for hours holding her baby even though she is not feeling well.

Some times it is in a dad that struggles to get out of bed early to go to work one more day. He is mistreated at the work place he is caught in – but he goes back every day to make a difference for his family.

Some times it is an older lady that is there to care for her aging husband that cannot now remember who she is… but she said “I will” until death do us part – along time ago.

I have watched lately some interesting situations develop as people have moved through their lives. I have watched the discovery of gold. People with talents and abilities that no one knew about have begun to change. Their lives that once were not going anywhere are now making a difference in life of others.

I have watched as ‘yellow iron’ has been discovered.

This is a simple thought for me, today I give God thanks for people in my life that are simply invaluable for what they do. I pray that they will not become discouraged and give up. I ask God to help me help them so that the great value they are will not be lost to an uncaring world.

How many people around you have ‘great value’ – but as yet have not been discovered? What can you do to help them be what God wants them to be?

~ Pastor Murray Lincoln ~

Proverbs 25:11 (New International Version)
11 A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.