The search....

The search.....

My husband was a geologist.  Over the 43  years of our marriage, he searched for many minerals in many different places.....Alaska, Idaho, Utah, the deserts of Arizona, the mother lode of California, the Cascades of Oregon, Idaho, Montana, the whole state of Nevada...and we almost moved to Tehran, Iran  and Indonesia, but  the Lord had other plans....wherever we went, he observed the geology of the area, interpreting the soils, rocks surrounding us...picking up rock samples here and there....that was one of his passions in life...

When he was young, his father build him a small shed with shelves, where he could store his collections of rocks...his father was a logger and understood how to make a living from the woods they lived in, but this young boy loved the rocks on which the trees stood instead...

He searched hillsides, old mines, flatlands, everywhere there was soils and rocks which might produce some kind of mineral....from gravel for roads to gold for it many uses....barite for drilling to tungsten for industry....silver, lead, copper....

But, along the way, he searched for wisdom as well....how to be a better father, husband, a man after God's heart...how to be a better steward of the resources he found or was entrusted with...how to give wisely, how to listen....how to advise/encourage others in those teachings...he filled several prayer journals with notes he had taken...those were just as important to him as the file cabinets he filled with geological data....

Thank YOU that you have created the earth with the minerals for our use...but help me to seek the wisdom that is the basis for life...And I thank you for the husband who searched for the minerals and the wisdom that only You could supply...


Job 28
There is a mine for silver
and a place where gold is refined.
2 Iron is taken from the earth,
and copper is smelted from ore.
3 Mortals put an end to the darkness;
they search out the farthest recesses
for ore in the blackest darkness.
4 Far from human dwellings they cut a shaft,
in places untouched by human feet;
far from other people they dangle and sway.
5 The earth, from which food comes,
is transformed below as by fire;
6 lapis lazuli comes from its rocks,
and its dust contains nuggets of gold.
7 No bird of prey knows that hidden path,
no falcon’s eye has seen it,
8 Proud beasts do not set foot on it,
and no lion prowls there.
9 People assault the flinty rock with their hands
and lay bare the roots of the mountains.
10 They tunnel through the rock;
their eyes see all its treasures.
11 They search the sources of the rivers
and bring hidden things to light.
12 But where can wisdom be found?
Where does understanding dwell?
13 No mortal comprehends its worth;
it cannot be found in the land of the living.
14 The deep says, “It is not in me”;
the sea says, “It is not with me.”
15 It cannot be bought with the finest gold,
nor can its price be weighed out in silver.
16 It cannot be bought with the gold of Ophir,
with precious onyx or lapis lazuli.
17 Neither gold nor crystal can compare with it,
nor can it be had for jewels of gold.
18 Coral and jasper are not worthy of mention;
the price of wisdom is beyond rubies.
19 The topaz of Cush cannot compare with it;
it cannot be bought with pure gold.
20 Where then does wisdom come from?
Where does understanding dwell?
21 It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing,
concealed even from the birds in the sky.
22 Destruction and Death say,
“Only a rumor of it has reached our ears.”
23 God understands the way to it
and he alone knows where it dwells,
24 for he views the ends of the earth
and sees everything under the heavens.
25 When he established the force of the wind
and measured out the waters,
26 when he made a decree for the rain
and a path for the thunderstorm,
27 then he looked at wisdom and appraised it;
he confirmed it and tested it.
28 And he said to the human race,
“The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom,
and to shun evil is understanding.”