While in Kansas City in mid-October I was strongly encouraged to visit the Arabia Steamboat Museum. It tells of her travels on the Missouri River and 1865 sinking. The majority and most fascinating parts of the museum are devoted to what happened years later.
By 1987, when a man named David Hawley used a metal detector to locate the remains of the Arabia, the path of the river had shifted a half-mile and it was 45 feet underground. Hawley convinced his dad, his brother and two other friends to become excavation partners.
The Arabia was carrying not only the passenger’s items, but tons of cargo needed on the new American frontier: “castor oil and cognac, needles and nutmegs, windowpanes and wedding bands, eyeglasses and earrings, as well as long-underwear, umbrellas and weapons…4,000 shoes and boots, 3,000,000 Indian trade beads, dishes and house wares, guns, knives, tools, all manner of clothing items, and even two prefab homes,” according to the museum’s website, 1856.com.
Following months of digging and constantly pumping out ground water, the team removed the wood skeleton of the Arabia (well preserved in the mud and fresh water), her boiler and cargo, which are now on display at the museum as, “the largest collection of pre-Civil War artifacts in the world.”
It is thousands of items representing the pixels of a high-res snapshot of history. Also viewable at the museum is a real-time look at the process of carefully cleaning items destined to be displayed.
THE PARALLELS
Although God has put in plain sight the opportunity for us to have a relationship with him, for some people, it might feel buried beneath the mud. Some may feel that no matter what, they are incapable of discovering his grace. They may feel that, like digging near the Missouri River, the more earth they remove, the bigger water-filled hole they have. It doesn't have to be that way.
God, through his written Word (the Bible), his Spirit and through people who already believe in him, reveals himself. We each must recognize his gift of eternal life, ask, and he will give it to us.
What we will get is worth more than the cargo of the Arabia. It is a relationship now and forever.
We ought to be careful to put his “artifacts” on display and into action in a God-honoring, not self-promoting way. Those artifacts, also called, “Gifts of the Spirit” include wisdom, knowledge, faith, administration and helps.
Our faith should be so attractive that, like the items in the Arabia Steamboat Museum, people who look closely should see them on display.
By 1987, when a man named David Hawley used a metal detector to locate the remains of the Arabia, the path of the river had shifted a half-mile and it was 45 feet underground. Hawley convinced his dad, his brother and two other friends to become excavation partners.
The Arabia was carrying not only the passenger’s items, but tons of cargo needed on the new American frontier: “castor oil and cognac, needles and nutmegs, windowpanes and wedding bands, eyeglasses and earrings, as well as long-underwear, umbrellas and weapons…4,000 shoes and boots, 3,000,000 Indian trade beads, dishes and house wares, guns, knives, tools, all manner of clothing items, and even two prefab homes,” according to the museum’s website, 1856.com.
Following months of digging and constantly pumping out ground water, the team removed the wood skeleton of the Arabia (well preserved in the mud and fresh water), her boiler and cargo, which are now on display at the museum as, “the largest collection of pre-Civil War artifacts in the world.”
It is thousands of items representing the pixels of a high-res snapshot of history. Also viewable at the museum is a real-time look at the process of carefully cleaning items destined to be displayed.
THE PARALLELS
Although God has put in plain sight the opportunity for us to have a relationship with him, for some people, it might feel buried beneath the mud. Some may feel that no matter what, they are incapable of discovering his grace. They may feel that, like digging near the Missouri River, the more earth they remove, the bigger water-filled hole they have. It doesn't have to be that way.
God, through his written Word (the Bible), his Spirit and through people who already believe in him, reveals himself. We each must recognize his gift of eternal life, ask, and he will give it to us.
What we will get is worth more than the cargo of the Arabia. It is a relationship now and forever.
We ought to be careful to put his “artifacts” on display and into action in a God-honoring, not self-promoting way. Those artifacts, also called, “Gifts of the Spirit” include wisdom, knowledge, faith, administration and helps.
Our faith should be so attractive that, like the items in the Arabia Steamboat Museum, people who look closely should see them on display.