“Good Morning!” A red faced young man said, trying to get the attention of the crowd of people in the lobby. “I’m glad that you could all come this morning to visit us here at the wax factory! We have every kind of wax here that you could imagine.”

“Mom, why did we have to come here?” A boy asked.

“Because it’s educational. Besides, you’re the one who said that you would like to go do something for an afternoon with Jackie, so…”

“But I meant something like the beach, or a park– or at least McDonalds!”

“Hush, she’s coming back from getting her drink, and our tour is about to begin.” Jackie returned to the group, wiping off her mouth with her sleeve.

“Tom, I thought that we were going to–” Jackie said, over the noise of the crowd. The noise died down, so the two broke into a whisper.

“I know. I know. This is my mom’s idea, not mine.”

“I can just imagine what your folks did as kids. I bet that one week it was the automobile factory, the next the fire station, the police station, and–”

“Fine.” Jackie closed, as the group started the tour.

“This is the vat in which our wax is first melted,” the tour guide commented.

“I can’t believe this,” Jackie said, aloud.

“Believe it or not, miss, it’s true.” Turning a bit red, she hid behind Tom. They continued their tour, until Tom spotted a door to the side of a wall, moving toward it, he grabbed Jackie’s arm, and she followed. Turning the knob, Tom opened the door, and when nobody was looking, they both sneaked inside. Flipping on a light switch, Jackie shut the door. She jumped backwards a bit, as she stared at the wall. Cobwebs filled the room, and a spider had just climbed back to safety when she jumped.

“Where are we?” Jackie inquired.

“I’m not sure. Look, there’s a couple of letters on the wall.”

“H-S. I wonder what that means.”

“Maybe High School?”

“Hmm. Look at all these filing cabinets. I wonder what’s in them, besides spiders.”

“Well, let’s look.” Tom said, grabbing a hold of one of the handles. Pressing a button, the drawer slid open. Inside, the drawer was remarkably clean. Looking inside, he saw many pieces of paper. Pulling one out, he looked around it. “I wonder what this is.” Flipping it over, he went to break the seal that held it together.

“NO!! Wait! It’s got the same seal as those letters on the wall.”

“So, what do you want me to do? Just put it back?!”

“Look. Here’s a chart describing the contents of the cabinets.” Jackie pointed to a chart on the wall. Tom dusted it off with a nearby rag and started looking at the words.

“I can’t make it out. It looks like some foreign language.”

“Awe, we might as well just put it back,” said Jackie. They placed the piece of paper back in the cabinet and continued to look around. “Hey, there’s a door back here.”

“Let’s see where it leads!”

Walking back to the door, Tom dusted the dusted off the window with the sleeve of his shirt. While brushing it off, Jackie looked inside.

“Tom! Look!” Jackie exclaimed. Tom quit dusting and looked inside. “It looks like some kind of office.”

“Huh?”

“I think I see someone moving around inside,” said Jackie. As she was leaning on the door, it started to open. Tom grabbed it quickly in order to keep it from opening all the way. The two exchanged glances, then looked inside. Peering inside, they saw what looked like a factory. People we running to and fro throughout the place. Tom opened the door a little further, and the two of them crawled into the main room on their hands and knees. Crawling underneath one of the tables, Jackie said, “Who are all these–”

“Shh,” whispered Tom. “We don’t want them to hear us.” They continued to watch the people scurry about, and decided to try to make it to a door in the corner of the room. Sneaking stealthfully, they made it over to the door, opened it, and snuck inside. Looking around, Tom commented, “This looks like a mail room. Look over there.”

“It looks like some kind of wax melter. Look, I think I see–”

“I think I see someone coming. Quick, hide!” Tom exclaimed. They both jumped for cover inside a large cabinet. Once inside, they opened it a crack to see who was coming inside and what he was doing. A man about the size of Tom walked in and flicked a switch on a machine. He then acted as if he was called and left the room. Quickly climbing out of the closet, the two walked over to look at the sheet of paper.

“Look!” Jackie gasped. “This piece of paper has John’s name on it!” Quickly skimming it, she found that it had a bunch of statistics on John (a friend of theirs), such as Social Security number, Birthdate, and other facts. “I wonder what this is.” Tom noticed the man’s eminent return, and they both got back into the closet. After the man came and left they got out of the closet and looked around. The machine had cooled down, and they started to look at it carefully.

“Don’t touch it! It’s probably very fragile!” Tom warned.

“It’s hot! Look, there’s some wax here! Hey, this looks familiar.”

“That HS. That’s what was on those envelopes outside!”

“Yes, it is,” stated a deep male voice behind them. “And just what, may I ask, do you two think that you are doing in here? This is a maximum security room.”

“I’m sorry, sir. We just left the tour of the wax factory, and before we knew it we were in here.”

“I see.”

“The truth is, we were trying to find out what those envelopes in the older room were.”

“Those, my dear, are records on everyone in the country. For decades, we have been keeping track of everyone in the entire country. All the important information is gathered, sealed, and filed. Now, if you’ll kindly follow me, I’ll show you out of here,” said the man, leading the way. “Oh, and one more thing. You are not to say a word about this place to anyone.”

They left the room and went down a long hallway where they joined the rest of the group which still on the tour. Rejoining the group, and answering the many questions from Tom’s mom, the finished the tour and left the war factory.

We must all remain constantly aware that everything, even our idle thoughts, are taken down with much accuracy. Who we are, what we stand for, where we would like to be and to be doing are all written. So my question to you is, are you living as one who’s life is constantly monitored, or are we flippant with the time we have? Will who we are and what we’ve done count for anything when we stand before our Savior?

Sitting down at the lunch table next to her friend, Sara, Erica opened up her lunch box to see what her mom had packed for her to eat. “Awe rats. Another peanut butter and jelly sandwich,” remarked Erica.

“There he is!” Sara squealed.

“Who?”

“Brandon. He’s just sitting down over there.”

“Sara?”

“Yes?” Sara looked toward Erica.

“He’s already got a girl friend.”

“I know, but a girl can dream, can’t she?” Erica rolled her eyes, and started eating her sandwich. “Speaking of which, you’ll never believe what I was reading yesterday!”

“What was that?”

“That there is a Pirate’s Chest full of jewels in a cave in the woods,” stated Sara, placing her plastic bags into the paper bag to throw it away.

“Come on, Sara. There’s no such thing as buried treasure.”

“Who’s talking buried treasure, I’m talking about hidden treasure.” Erica gave Sara a look of disbelief and finished her drink. “Anyway, I was thinking about going Saturday afternoon to see if I can find it. Want to come?”

“I don’t think–”

“But it will be fun, trust me.”

“Okay… I guess.” Erica and Sara finished their lunches and went to class. What a curious idea, thought Erica. That there could actually be hidden treasure in a cave somewhere. If there was, why didn’t the person who wrote this article find it? Millions of questions filled Erica’s mind as she tried to reason to herself why she was going to follow her friend off into the woods.

That night, she went to bed, and when she woke up she thought it all to be a dream. That was until she got to school and went to her locker. Opening it up, she looked, and Sara was just coming in the door. She walked over in a safari hat. Giggling a little, she placed it in her locker. “What’s that for?” Erica asked.

“It’s for Saturday. I hear that it’s supposed to be pretty sunny, and I wouldn’t want to get my face burnt.”

“Now there would be the end of the world.” Closing her locker, Erica continued, “Sara, are you sure that you actually want to go through with this? I mean, what if somebody else has read about the treasure and has–”

“Already found it? Well, at least we’ll have a fun hike.”

“But what if we get lost?”

“I’ve got a map and a compass,” she dug in her bag. “See.” She showed the map and compass to her worried friend. “Not a problem!” The bell to go to class rang, and the two girls headed off their separate ways.

That Saturday they both met at Sara’s house to begin their adventure. “Are you sure about this? I mean, what if–”

“You’re such a scardy cat,” interrupted Sara. “Everything will be fine. Here,” said Sara, handing Erica a canteen, “We may need this.” They finished packing and headed on their way. Jumping on their bicycles, they rode off to the nearby forest. They dismounted and put their bikes in the dried up ditch.

“Do you think that they are safe here? I mean, what if someone steals them, or it rains–”

“Will you stop that?! If I’d known you were going to be this much trouble…”

“Okay, okay. Let’s go.” They began walking into the forest, heading north by north-west. Sara had started to mark trees along their way. After walking about an hour, Erica recognized one of the trees. “Look at this! We’ve already been here! We’ve been walking around in circles!”

“Look.” Sara said, showing Erica the map, “That’s the way we’re supposed to go. Now, just trust me a little.”

“Trust you!?! I don’t even know what I’m doing here!”

“Not this again. Look, if you want to wait here–”

“No, no. I’m sorry. It’s just– well, I’m kinda tired.”

“I see. Let’s take a break. You sit here, and I will go see if I can’t find out where the cave is.”

“Don’t leave me here!”

“All right. We’ll both take a rest.” They sat down on a rock. Digging out the canteen and a snack, they began to eat a little. The time came for the journey to continue. They got up and continued on their way. Erica constantly complained, yet was hesitant to turn around and go back. After a long hike, they finally reached the cave…

“See, I told you that it was here,” chimed Sara. “Now all we have to do is go inside and get the jewels.”

“If it’s that easy, why hasn’t someone else already got them?”

“Maybe because they had a partner like you.”

“Oh. I see how you are.”

“Let’s go.” Sara said, signaling for Erica to follow. She dug in her bag to pull out a flashlight, then started inside. “Cool.”

“Yeah. I wish I had brought my sweater.”

“Check out this over here.” Sara pointed her flashlight at a bunch of bats.

“BATS!!! I hate BATS!!!” Erica screamed. This awoke a few of the bats, which flew and dodged around the two girls.

“Shhh.” Sara said. They continued to walk further into the cave.

“What does the map say?”

“I don’t know. Let me look.” Digging out the map, she dropped it. “Great, I dropped it.”

“Can you find it?”

“I don’t know… Wait! I’ve got it, but it doesn’t have much about the cave. It just says that it’s in here.”

“Let’s go back.”

“Not that again.”

“I mean, I think that it’s time for dinner.”

“I’m going to find that treasure. Are you with me?”

“All right, but let’s hurry up.” They trekked further into the cave, and stumbled upon a box. Opening it, the reflection of their flashlights almost blinded them. “WOW!”

“See, didn’t I tell you!”

“I never– wait until Dad– I don’t believe it.”

“Let’s see how much we can get in our bags.” They took off their bags, filled them, and carried some of the other pieces out with them. Returning to their bikes, they hopped on and rode home victoriously.

The headline in the paper the next day spread their fame, and they soon had a lot of guys talking and noticing them. Sara and Erica never lost their heads, though, and kept the jewels in a safe place.

Are we going to spend our lives doubting and questioning the direction of God’s will? Should we continue to point out to God that we’ve already been here without consulting His plan, or map, in His Word? He has marvelous things in store for those who believe and will totally surrender to His leading. Will we choose to do what is easy and seems right in the here and now, or trust Him who knows all to direct us?

Being left at his Grandfather’s house, he saw his mom and the car move out of the driveway and then down the road. Turning around, Joey looked at the big white house and the barn that was down the hill a little way. He thought about his Grandfather being the only one in such a big house, but he also remembered the cabinets of food that is Grandfather had. As he walked toward the back door, he could remember all of the times that he had been over to the house when his Grandmother was there also. They had some good times playing cards and board games. He really loved his grandparents. He always knew that there were some sweet cookies of candy behind the cabinets in the kitchen. Just thinking about it made him hungry.

Walking in the door, he took of his shoes, and continued inside. Once there, he searched the rooms, looking for his Grandfather. He found him in the living room, sitting alone with a Bible on his lap. “Hello Joey.” The grandfather said.

“Hi Grandpa.” Joey responded. Joey walked over to the table where another book, full of pictures, was lying open. He looked at the pictures for a few seconds and then asked, “What’s this, Grandpa?”

“That,” the grandfather said, walking over to it, “is my college yearbook.”

“Did you know all these people, Grandpa?”

“No, son,” the grandfather said with a smile, “Not all of them. Here, I’ll show you which ones I know.” Picking up the yearbook, he walked over to a nearby chair. Joey came over and sat down beside him. The grandfather put his arm around him and started to point out people he knew. “This was Jim Boutchia. This guy was my roommate. He had to get up at three in the morning every other morning and he woke me up every time.” The grandfather said with a laugh. As he went through the names, running his finger over the pictures, recounting the events that had happened, he stopped on the picture of one girl.

“Who was that, Grandpa?” Tapping his finger on the picture, he looked at Joey.

“That, son, was a friend of mine, that I almost lost.”

“What happened?” Setting the yearbook aside, he stood up and walked over to window. “Please, Grandpa. Tell me what happened.”

“Well… Communication is the key to any relationship, be it a friendship or a dating relationship. I found out more about this girl from everyone else than I did from her. There was a time, though, that I almost blew it.”

“Tell me, please.”

“I wrote her a letter once. It basically told her that she was not being a friend to me. Then I didn’t talk to her, and she didn’t help me.” A tear streamed down the cheek of the old man. “Apart from God’s grace, I could have lost a good friend.”

Joey, noticing that his grandfather was getting to that stage where he was going to give a long sermon, focused on trying to get the cookies out of the cabinet. “Grandpa, can I have a cookie?”

“I almost lost a friend. Joey, friends are a gift from God. They’re one in a million. Never neglect, never forget, never intentionally hurt a friend. Always treasure them.”