Why can a church planter come into a community and begin a ministry that reaches new people and changes lives … in the same area where other churches have struggled for years? The potential was apparently there, but the established churches somehow didn’t see it or connect with it.
Scripture speaks often of having eyes to see, but not seeing, and having ears to hear, but not hearing. As you face obstacles in your life and ministry, remind yourself that there are often answers outside your present perspective—answers that provide new opportunities, if you can see them.
To help me with this constant challenge of seeing and hearing new possibilities, I like to recall the true story set high in the Colorado mountains …
“GOLD! GOLD!” were the shouts echoing through the hills near the town of Leadville, Colorado during the 1860’s. The country was in the midst of the gold rush, and men by the thousands searched for their fortunes in the bottom of their panning tins. But sixteen years later the ruins of Leadville told of a boomtown gone bust. In the nearby California Gulch (named after the gold dreams of the 49ers out west), only remnants of abandoned cabins and sluice boxes remained. A few diehard prospectors could still be found rewashing the gulch gravel for pocket money.
The California Gulch had a nasty reputation among the veteran prospectors. “It’s that black sand!” they complained. “It gums up the riffles in sluice boxes. It fills panning holes we dug the day before. It stains and ruins clothes.” The black sand seemed to cover every gold nugget with grime and grit, and make mockery of any attempt to find one’s fortune. While prospectors came to Leadville in great numbers, they soon left discouraged, cursing the black sand and moving on in search of easier streams to riches.
Into the remnants of the abandoned mines and sluice boxes of the California Gulch came two mining men, William H. Stevens and Alvinus B. Wood. Convinced there was still gold beneath the surface, they began buying up old claims. Initial gold finds heightened their efforts and expectations. But soon they, too, encountered the problems of the earlier prospectors. The black sand forced delays and hampered progress until it appeared the entire project would fall victim to the wretched grit.
One day Stevens decided to send a sample of “that black stuff” to the East Coast for analysis. To their surprise, the men found the black sand was lead carbonate … loaded with silver.
Stevens and Wood staked lode claims throughout the California Gulch and opened the Rock Mine, the first producing silver mine in the district. They became fabulously rich in a matter of years.
The black sand, which miners and prospectors had cursed as an abominable intrusion in the pursuit of their golden dreams, contained wealth that would have made them rich beyond their wildest imaginations! The sandy California Gulch yielded a pittance in gold … but a fortune in silver.
All around each of us are opportunities hidden in the “black sand.” Some of those opportunities are people in your church. Some are people in your community. Some are new ministries. When you next encounter an obstacle keeping you from greater ministry, think of the Rock Mine in Leadville, Colorado. Think of Jesus, who told us to turn our eyes to the fields that are white unto harvest. They are there … if we will see them.
