Nevada saw the house of the treasure man in the distance but he stopped. His emotions were raw and intense! There was a ravine in the front of the house that did NOT have a bridge across it. It was not going to be as easy as he thought it was going to be. He kicked the rock next to him. He was tired, he was hungry, and  he had given away his last dollar to that poor sap on the side of the road!  Of all the low-down, dirty things to happen to him! HE WANTED THAT TREASURE! His frustration caused him to plant his butt on a rock and hold his head.

From the shadows, Lou chuckled. Nevada spun around and saw him, chuckling in the shadows. “What are YOU doing here?” “Oh Nevada I have been with you from the time you left out. I have been trying to get you to come and back to the bar with the girls and I, we want you back, you BELONG with us!“”I tolds yous I was going to get my treasure!” “The owner of the treasure dont want you to get no treasure! See the ravine? If there was a treasure, then whys you out here and not digging for it?” “I dont know where to look yets” Nevada admired. “You belong with us, away from here. There’s treasure to be had back there too. Uhm sure, Nevada. You are all the treasure you need.” “I …thought…I thought…there was something more, something waiting for me…I’ve come so far…I have…” Lou laughed “Come on back, the world is changing…YOU are the treasure”.

“I want the treasure, the one talked about in the map” he heard himself say inside. The old man in the jail. His mother. He thought of the others who found the treasure before him. Even those who said that they had the treasure for a short time. They believed that there WAs something out there. He thought of the treasure owner who had given it all away, so close yet so far away. He could barely make out a lamp in one of the windows. But it was still so far away.

“I want that treasure” he heard himself say, out loud. “I want it”. The passion in Lou’s hatred burned across the air to Nevada. “You fool!” And then it struck Nevada. Lou wanted it but he could not get it. He believed that Lou thought, If Lou could not have it, then no one would.

Nevada cocked his head and squinted his eye at Lou, “You’re a mangy scoundrel!” and with a turn, the dirt started crunching under Nevada’s boots.

Nevada found a way around the ravine about a mile and a half south. His steps quickened in anticipation and hope until he was right in front of the porch of the treasure owner. On the porch was a clean, well-dressed man. eating some chicken. He looked up and saw Nevada and a wide grin went across his face. “Hey aint you the fella I rescued from the road?” The man just laughed, getting up and went inside, leaving the chicken and some drink on a table on the porch.

“Hey fella, come back here!” Nevada called after him. He followed him inside but the man was no where to be seen.

“Hullo? Anyone in there?” Nevada called out.

The light from the lamp was on a sill. The door protested with creaking when Nevada could not wait any longer and entered. On the sill sat the lamp. The house was empty? However, he did see some signs of life. There was a note and another thing he saw on the table that made his eyes bug out. There were three gold bars. He picked up the note.

“Nevada: I am the owner of the treasure. I have prepared it for you. I have a crown for you and a mansion for you too. In the meantime, I have this gold for you. One is called Faith, faith in me, faith in yourself, faith in your fellow man. The second is Hope, hope in me, hope in yourself, and hope in your fellow man. The 3rd is Love: love me, love yourself, and love your fellow man. Its the greatest of the three. You have the map, FOLLOW ME!”

Nevada knew that with those three things, he could have what he wanted on this earth so he took the three bars and the chicken. And that is what Nevada did.

Revelation 22:12“Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done. 

—————————————————————W.