Hello! I’m Stacy. I’m excited to share with you
a series of excerpts from the 2017 Sky Ranch Summer Devotional I’ve written
called Boom Town, Sifting for Truth.
This year we’ve done things a bit differently.
My son Taylor, also a Sky Ranch “Lifer,” has joined the team to add an element
of fiction to the book. Each section will have part of an ongoing fiction story
to help illustrate the devotional messages.
We have also added overview questions at the end
of each section called “Golden Nuggets of Truth.” These provide a recap and
highlights so that you and your family can be sure to remember the most
important parts of the message.
We encourage you to use these different study
methods to communicate with each member of your family in the way that they
learn best. We pray that your family will grow in the Lord as you go through
this study on seeking truth!
I’m praying for you,
Stacy A. Davis
Section One Story - The Boy and the
Prospector
by Taylor
A. Davis
Over the mountain range, through the thickets
and trees, a gentle wind traveled its way through the woods until it found a
low-lying stream. The cool air had seen the trials and hardships of a hardy few
who would strike rock, dirt, and sand to find a new way and a new life. With
sweaty,
coarse hands, mankind hunted for the finer
things, most seeking treasures wherever the stars guided, while only a few knew
to look in the small places hiding alongside them.
Along the Shasta River rested a settlement known
as Boom Town. It was home to a happy bunch, for they’d found the most precious
of metals. A prize most prospectors had searched for, yet found none. However,
the “Boomers,” as they called themselves, knew the secrets to finding what
others could not. They knew where to look and how to look. Gold was their
trade, the life of their community. And if you failed to find it, then you were
just an outsider, a lonely seeker of dirt.
“Could you tie up the tent flap, Curly? That
breeze is killin’ me,” groaned a kooky old man sporting a thick, white beard
and wearing a brown cowboy hat atop his head. The chipper fellow adjusted his
reading spectacles and scratched his large nose. He leaned over, fidgeting like
a
squirrel away from its tree while he laid down a
large leather book with a golden crucifix sewn in the center of the cover.
“You need to be sure none of that wind blows
through. If you let that cold stuff in, you won’t survive the evening in this
winter.”
“I’m doing my best, sir!” whined the boy.
Smaller and younger than the men at Boom Town, the young lad did his best to
shut the tent. The wind catapulted the wool cap from his head and into the old
man’s wrinkled face. Curly’s blonde hair levitated as he mightily pulled the
two pieces of
cloth together, battling the gale forces of
nature pounding against his skinny frame.
Once the boy had finally closed the tent and the
old man removed the cap from his face, they sat down together. The old man
dusted the grimy item and then leaned forward to place it back on Curly’s head.
“You know the reason I called you here, boy?”
the old man mumbled. “I can’t find gold?” Curly replied under his breath. His
head sank low. “It’s not that you can’t find the gold. You just don’t know
where or how to look for it…” The old man’s response was followed by a
lingering pause.
“Well, how do I even know it’s real? All I do is
hear about it; I never seen it.”
“Ahh,” the old man chuckled, “What a mistake it
is to believe only until you see. For you to find the gold at the bottom of
that river, you must know it’s there.
Then you must be patient. You must be still. And then you will find what’s
buried beneath all that dirt and stone.”
A befuddled look spread across Curly’s face. Annoyed,
he lacked the patience to find wisdom in the old man’s words.
The boy cried in a raised tone, “How am I
supposed to know that you know what you’re talking about! For all I know,
you’ve been searching longer than me. For all I know, none of the Boomers in
Boom Town have even seen gold!”
“Then what is this, boy!” the old man sharpened
his voice. He held up a closed fist before the grumbling child. His palms
remained closed. Withered and frail, they shook violently to stay afloat.
“They call me the Old Prospector for a reason.
I’ve been here. I’ve been back. I’ve seen it all, and I’m trying to show you
the way. For there is only one way to find the gold. Only one way to find that
sweet treasure buried beneath. You must
believe.”
Before the boy, the old prospector released his
hand and revealed what was hidden. Out rolled a dazzling chunk of rock. Ripe
and true, strong to the core with a beauty that could not be recreated or
destroyed. Purest of all things, that tiny speck of gold struck Curly in the hardest
of ways. He believed.
The Old Prospector closed his palm and shook his
head. “Emptiness is to doubt what you know is truth. If you’re gonna join the
Boomers, you must know it’s there before you can find it. Meet me in the river
tomorrow, when the sun breaks the plane of day.”
Nodding, Curly got up, grabbed his gray jacket
and cap, and then made his way out of the tent as the wind grew, pushing harder
than he’d ever known.
Section One Topic - Truth
The story begins with a young prospector named Curly.
Curly is having trouble finding gold. An older wiser prospector reveals that
for Curly’s search to really begin, Curly has to believe that gold really does
exist. After sharing his experience of finding gold and even showing Curly a
nugget of real gold that he found in the river, the older prospector convinces
Curly of gold’s existence. This begins Curly’s quest for gold. In a similar
way, to begin a search for truth, you have to believe that truth really exists,
that there is truth just waiting for you to find it. There is an old proverb
that says, “The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get,
get insight” (Proverbs 4:7 ESV). It is saying
that the beginning of wisdom is recognizing that you need real wisdom and then,
whatever you do, find the truth. You have to recognize your need for truth to
begin your search for it. The Sky Ranch family devotional, Boom Town, will take
your family through the process of seeking truth by breaking into five sections
that will lead you to real truth. In this first section on truth, your family
will discover that truth is real, whom the source of real truth is and the
evidence that supports whether your source really is giving you truth.
Excerpt from the Sky Ranch Devotional -
Boom Town,
Written by Stacy A. Davis and Taylor A. Davis
© 2017 Stacy A. Davis, Inc. and Taylor A.
Davis. All rights reserved.
Check back
next week for the first guided Family Devotional complete with scriptural
devotional time and questions for the whole family!
For more
Sky Ranch Family devotionals and information on the author, visit
stacyadavis.com.
