I am enjoying my new hobby of mining. It’s a peaceful time
in the mountains trying to figure out how nature would have done things. First
there are two types of gold, placer and lode. Place has been moved and is found
in streambeds, while lode deposits are still in hard rock. The biggest thing
you can tell between the two is one is smooth while the other is jagged. One
has been beaten and tumbled by water, while the other is still encased by rock.
When you discover gold you will notice it’s either alluvial
or eluvial. Eluvial has broken from the bedrock lode, and is still encased in
rock most of the time. Alluvial has been washed down the hill to the streambed
to become placer. So as you are finding gold, especially placer that is jagged
one can get excited about finding a possible lode. So as we hunt we find
different pieces and can determine the geology of the land by what we discover,
in hopes of hitting the “mother lode” and some real “pay dirt”!
When I first heard the definition of alluvial I thought of
the NeedtoBreathe song “Washed by the Water”. Hebrews 10:22 talks about our bodies
being washed in the water:
Let us draw near with a true heart
in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil
conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
Our hearts are made pure by the sacrifice of Jesus on the
cross, like being washed with pure water. Our hearts are then considered
alluvial hearts since we have been tumbled and changed. Sure we may be removed
from the lode and considered eluvial, but we have not yet been washed. That is
the key here since for a true and complete transformation we cannot be
encrusted with rock and jagged, but beaten and pounded by the turbulent flow of
water. In the end we are smooth and formed by God himself. Our jagged and
harden hearts are softened and smoothed, but the blood that flowed for us.
On the subject of mining, been seeing a bunch of ties into
the search for gold and the quest for learning Jesus. In this I am thinking
about using this land God has blessed us with to do father/son mining camps,
where we teach the pair how to mine. At the same time show them how this ties
into our relationship with Jesus. What do you think?