Where is your greatest treasure buried?

Jim Honeycutt

Chaplain-Baptist Minister

In the black dirt just outside of the country town of Mart, Texas, where the land rolls gently across the horizon and farmers raise their crops, lies a cache of gold and silver coins. I know my father hid it there with every intent to one day retrieve it.

He never did!

I was not present the day it took place, the burying of his gold. In fact, no one was that I know of other than himself and The good Lord. So, I don’t have a clue as to where it may possibly be located. My Father, in his old age couldn’t tell me and The Lord hasn’t revealed it. But, based on the evidence we have recovered from other caches he buried, I have no doubt it warms a hole somewhere out on the hundreds of acres he farmed.

Now it is quite possible after all these years someone has found his hidden treasure, particularly when taking into account all the wind turbines that have been planted in the soil over the last few years outside of Mart. Yet, at this writing I have not received any news of its unearthing.

So, unless someone discovered it, remaining silent, it is still warming that hole. 

My Father Walter grew up during the Great Depression in America. The son of a farmer, he was raised in a time when resources were few and most lost nearly everything they had in the stock market crash. 

It was a journey of sorrow and want for most of this nation, with country folk taking care and not one resource being squandered. 

I believe this is why my Daddy collected and stored so much junk as an adult. Broken plows, bent discs, used bailing wire, anything and everything that could possibly be repurposed he kept. 

In small sheds scattered among the dozens of old abandoned farmhouses in which he stored hay, he kept his collection. I very vividly remember him sending me out in search of some tractor parts he just knew he had left in one of the houses. And 99 percent of the time he was right. To this day I don’t how he remembered all the whereabouts of his inventory. 

Walter also never really trusted banks. He had seen people’s complete savings wiped out, leaving family and friends destitute when the big crash took place. Fearing it would happen again during his lifetime, he took precautions to safe guard his family. He stored buckets of freeze-dried foods, stocked up on kerosene lamps and hid money everywhere. When he died, there was a scavenger hunt. 

One Christmas Eve, when I was about 16, my cousin John and I broke up some of the concrete floor in the building Dad owned in Mart that was used for his tractor’s repair shop. I worked all that day swinging a sledgehammer and removing junks of concrete. Little did I know at the time, I was clearing a place for him to bury coins. I would go back years later as an adult and help John unearth the large sealed PVC pipes buried so long ago, though I wonder if we got all of them. 

I know looking back that my father took the responsibility of providing for his family so seriously that he did things that seemed a little out of character for a man who spoke of trusting God completely. I believe he felt that he was called to be a blessing to those in a time need. So, he was prepared. 

Something I would like you to also understand is why my father gave away much more than he buried. Besides being a faithful tither, he made it a point to support every ministry of the local Church financially. This also includes the thousands he gave to the missionary effort, along with the funds he gave monthly to evangelism. 

In his love of giving, his family never went without. In the lean years, he and mom put the needs of their children first. 

As one of his children, I can proudly tell you that his greatest treasure, the one that gave him the most joy, the one that lit up his face, the one that caused tears to roll down his cheeks, he offered to all who would receive. 

His most valuable treasure was buried deep in his heart, which was his Savior Jesus Christ. And though he seldom spoke of the buried gold, he sang and told of his love for Jesus daily. This is the treasure of untold riches. This is the treasure worth more than gold. This is the treasure buried deep in the hearts of those who know Him.

At the end of the day when man’s gold melts away, when all the world has to offer dissolves into dust, the Love of Jesus remains. This is the Hope of my heart, this is my buried Treasure. Where is your treasure buried?