MINISTER'S MOMENT
"Is life like an Easter Egg hunt?"
CHARLOTTE AUSTIN

"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it"

(Matthew 13:44-45)

I'll never forget the expression on a little three-year-ols face when he found a colored egg in a church Easter egg hunt. There were dozens of eggs to be found, but there were a lot of children looking for them.

There it was...a baby blue egg in a clump of grass. What excitement for a child! (Dad, too!) He found it himself, and ge could keep it.

As entered the car to head for home, he clutched the egg a little to tightly, and it broke. It reaaly broke! Someone had failed to boil the egg, and there, over the back of the car seat, were the drippings of an egg. The child wept.

I wonder how many people do that with other matters in life. We search and serarch for life's treasures. Some of them are golden; dollar marks cover them. Some of them are mult i-col- ored, rather exotix, or even erotic; they stimu- late the senses. Some of them are rotten, but we don't know that because they're attractive on the outside. Others wer may broken geart.

God's gift of salvation is not that way. When you receive Christ, you know that no "egg of life" could ever satisfy your heart's hunger the way he can. You might even say you have found "the pearl of great value." That's better than an egg, isn't it? Happy Hunting!

Lord, all of us are seekers. We look for things that will bring us pleasure and satisfaction, but we're so easily fooled. We judge boods by their covers and eggs by their shells. Help us discover your peace through faith in Jesus Christ. Amen.
Rev. Charlotte Austin
McCary's Chapel United
Methodist Church