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Topic: Yellow (11/12/09)
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TITLE: Fool's Gold turns to Real Gold | Previous Challenge Entry
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11/19/09 -
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We were watering the cannas on a hot August morning. My friend, Chris, had come over to go swimming. Before I could go swimming, I had to water the cannas flower bed with ten buckets of water. Chris and I got the water from a small creek twenty five yards away from the garden.
While we were pulling water from the creek, Chris shouted, “Some of these yellow rocks look like gold. Do you think there’s any chance of these rocks being gold?”
I looked at the small rocks in the stream and said, “I’m not sure. I do know there are several tests you can make to tell if the rock is gold, though.”
We rubbed the small rocks hard against other rocks and smelled sulfur. I took out my Boy Scout pocket knife and tried to cut into the rock. “Well that’s that. The rock gives off an odor of rotten eggs and the rock can’t be cut,” I drawled
Chris stammered, “We’re rich.”
“No, that means these yellow rocks are nothing but pyrite. It’s fool’s gold.”
Chris threw down his rocks and scowled,” People who get rich are only in books.”
We sat down underneath a large oak tree after we had finished watering the cannas. While sitting, I remembered my Dad’s story about my father’s brother, Uncle Alfred, and how he found Christ.
“You know, Chris, my Dad’s father had a brother who got rich from fool’s gold. Let me tell you about him.
Uncle Alfred traveled out west as a young man. He gained a bad reputation from gambling, fighting, and drinking. Mostly, he just drifted around, working at odd jobs. One night when he was passing through a small mining town in Nevada, named Twin Fork, he took interest in a card game. The players were miners who were betting small nuggets of gold, since gold was easier to come by than money in those parts. When Uncle Albert saw all that gold, he and two acquaintances set about to take all the table winnings.
Uncle Albert and the two men held up the players at gun point, took everything off the table, and cleared out. Uncle Albert locked the poker players in a back room then took off. Ten miles away from town, Uncle Albert and his friends split up. His two friends, who he never saw again, rode to the east toward Butte, Montana. Uncle Albert rode to Walla Walla, Washington. Three weeks later, after hiding in the Blue Mountains, he tried to cash in his gold.
The banker told him, “This is fool’s gold. You cut at the rock and it doesn’t give. You rub the rock real hard against another rock and it gives off an odor. These rocks aren’t malleable. It’s nothing but pyrite.”
Uncle Albert thought real hard about how he almost starved himself hiding out in the mountains. He thought how he risked his life holding up a group of poker players. He thought how he had been cheated time and time again and always had to work for practically nothing. He thought about how all his drinking and fighting hadn’t done him a bit of good. He wondered if the miners knew they were cheating each other. Uncle Albert knew right then and there he was going to change. He didn’t want to be cheated out of life anymore. Uncle Albert turned his life around completely and accepted Christ into his life.
So you see, fool’s gold made him rich.”
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