Monday, July 30, 2007

Royal Hawaiian bowl worth...

$18,000-$20,000 dollars discovered at Antique Roadshow! The woman wearing an orange muumuu who brought the bowl in almost falls off her chair as this news is announced. Her story: she got the bowl from her mother who got it from her mother who got it from her mother who got it from her grandfather who got it from his parents and so on. At one point in the line of descendants, someone lived in Hawaii and originally acquired this bowl.

Antiques Roadshow fascinates me because people bring in a piece of pink glass in the shape of a toy poodle that they bought at a yard sale for 50 cents or maybe a whole dollar even; and it turns out to be the missing piece of the Queen Mum's private collection of glass dogs worth $12,000-$14,000 a yap. The second type are those who were prying around in their great-aunt's attic and find a brass spittoon they think would look good in the foyer to hold umbrellas. The great-aunt Edith doesn't care about it because she spits off her front porch so she gives it to the favorite nephew, Edmund. Of course, the brass spittoon more than likely according to the signature just barely seen on the bottom rim says property of General Robert E. Lee, so it's worth a salivating $28,000.

Watching Antiques Roadshow makes me want to actually open those boxes that my parents keep dumping off at my house with my name on them, claiming they are valuable pieces of heritage. Or maybe I should get up early this Saturday and cull through the yard sale offerings in search of a Vermeer.

Imagine this type of Roadshow where the appraisal sounds something like, "Well, as you see here, even in this footnote, there is a clear and distinct marking for the value of these words. There is an obvious and infallible divine print. The language and grammatical style is clearly first century, probably written by an educated man, and with definite fervency of message. In fact, the message itself, while not being appraised here, still holds tremendous value. I would conservatively value this text at...priceless."

Now wouldn't the owner of that text just simply fall off her chair, muumuu and all? Yes, would that the people of God fall off their chairs and onto knees in truest thanks for the divine text of Scripture--a hidden treasure only to those unwilling to mine its depths, to commit the time, or to humble themselves to right instruction.

As for the specific text and phrase under scrutiny? "All Scripture is breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." 2 Tim 3:16-17

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