Bob Bailey

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:19-21

I discovered a box the other day.  It was hidden in a dark corner of the basement.  Susie and I were doing a little work cleaning out the garage (which is really part of the basement), and there the box appeared.  It was small – no more than eight or nine inches long, but deep enough to hold treasure. 

I recognized the box immediately.  It has long familiar tears in the cover flaps; there was a stain on one corner that had been there for….45 years?  I knew immediately what was in it.   It was treasure.  But more succinct, it was a precious set of baseball cards that I had collected in my youth.  I opened the box.  I could almost smell the hard-stick bubble gum that used to come with these cards.  I lifted out the first card I saw.  Not a star.  Couldn’t it have been a Sandy Koufax card?  Nope.  Instead it was Bob Bailey.  I remember him.  He was an third baseman for, first the Pirates, and then the Dodgers.   I can remembering treasuring this card when I was young.  I have no idea why.  I looked up his statistics on the internet.  Bob Bailey wound up amassing a .257 batting average with 189 home runs in 16 seasons in the major leagues.   He played for five teams (including my beloved Dodgers) before retiring at the ripe old age of 35 in 1978.  Not a great player; but not exactly chopped liver either I suppose.

Finding his card represented a precious memory.  A treasure.  The card itself is worthless.

Our Lord said, “store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.”

Jesus knew our penchant for wanting store up treasures upon treasures that frankly would only not ultimately satisfy, but would bring heartbreak and alienation.  From God.

Jesus knew people so well. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  I do find myself looking at treasures enviously sometimes; Jesus said enjoy the treasures that will last.  Longer than 45 years.   Longer than paper cards.  Even longer than pleasant memories.  There is treasure that even far outweighs the discovery of a long lost baseball card.  It is found in Jesus.  Only.

Bob Bailey, wherever you are, no offense intended…..