Workers demolishing an old bus station in Pittsburgh recently discovered a wallet that had been stolen 43 years earlier. Technician LeRoy Fillmore noticed the billfold near some pipes where he was working. He found an Air Force identification card inside and called an Army recruiting office, where Captain Jason Hearn was able to track down the owner, 70-year-old Robert Gibson.

In 1962, Gibson stopped in Pittsburgh while returning from a year and a half of service in Germany. He lost his wallet when he decided to take a hot shower before boarding his bus to Clarksburg, West Virginia. Though the wallet was missing the cash Gibson was carrying, he was happy to get it back. Gibson said, "How it got where (it was found) I don't know. I want it for sentimental reasons. It's not every hip n' stitch that someone finds the wallet they lost 40 years ago."

—Associated Press, Serviceman's Wallet Found After 43 Years, October 24, 2005. Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell.

Luke 8:17 (NKJV) "For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light."

Marie Jadotte felt fortunate to walk away from the accident after her Mazda collided with another car at a Miami area intersection. Marie was rattled, but apparently not hurt too badly. She was going to continue on her way, until the officer at the scene insisted that she go to the hospital to be checked out.

At first Marie resisted the officer’s recommendation that she be taken to a trauma center. When the officer pointed out that she had only been wearing the shoulder strap part of her seat belt, and that there was a possibility of liver injury, Marie consented. Though Marie felt no ill effects, the trip to the hospital saved her life; doctors discovered a lacerated liver and abdominal bleeding, and sent her to surgery immediately.

Six days and several surgeries later, Marie woke up in a hospital bed. She said, “I was immediately stunned. Looking back now I had no idea.” Marie’s story in not unusual. Often in the confusion after an accident, serious injuries can go undetected without close observation by emergency technicians.

—Associated Press, January 10, 2003, Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell.

Not every problem is visible; some lay deep beneath the surface. I’m not talking about physical injury now. Many people don’t realize the how serious their condition is—they don’t understand they could be spiritually fatal. Or that help is available to save them.

Romans 6:23 NASB “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Milwaukee recently discovered a hidden treasure in their wall safe—a letter containing the swirling black signature of Edgar Allan Poe.

"I was absolutely stunned when I saw the letter," Paul Haubrich, a member of the church told The Associated Press. "It's in great shape, done on very high-quality paper that, when folded up, creates its own envelope." It is dated Feb. 12, 1840 and is addressed to "J.C. Passmore Esqr."

As it turned out, Poe was writing the letter in his capacity of editor of Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine—it was a rejection letter. A hundred and sixty some odd years later, the letter addressed to the Episcopal Priest fetched $20,000.00 for the church when it was auctioned at Christie's in New York.

I draw two important lessons from this story. First, bad news can become good news over time. A letter that surely brought disappointment to its first reader brought great joy to a collector who paid a handsome sum to purchase it and a church who gladly sold it. Second, it never hurts to open your safes and see what’s inside.

—http://member.compuserve.com/news/package.jsp?name=news/edgarallanpoe/edgarallanpoe&floc=MM7-Sun_am-mm0slot3_link Illustration by Jim L. Wilson

2 Cor. 4:7 NIV “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.”

Forty years ago, a thirteen-year-old boy named Tim Taylor left a note on top of a peak in the Sierra Nevada range. The note simply said, “Tim Taylor climbed to this peak, Thursday August 17, 1972. Aged 13 yrs, Anyone finding this please write.” Taylor put the note in a metal film canister and left it behind, wondering if anyone would ever contact him.

Forty years later, 69-year-old Larry Wright was hiking on the same mountain and discovered Taylor’s note. He tried to track Taylor down but could not figure out who this stranger was, until a local paper picked up the story, seeking the mysterious mountain climber. A friend saw the story and united the two men who climbed the mountain 40 years apart. Taylor says he decided to leave the note because it didn’t look like anyone had ever set foot on it before. According to the map he had, the peak did not have a name. Taylor says as far as he knows the peak still doesn’t have a name, but adds, ”I’m probably the first to climb that peak, and I think (Larry Wright) and his grandson are probably the second. Maybe we can name it the Taylor-Wright Peak, after the first two people to climb it.”— Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell

Man behind mysterious note comes forward, by Mike Krumbolz, http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/man-behind-mysterious-note-comes-forward-164743960.html, Accessed October 9, 2012.

Luke 12:2 (HCSB) There is nothing covered that won’t be uncovered, nothing hidden that won’t be made known.