Ive been spending a lot of time on a treasure hunt.

Not a metaphorical one, not a spiritual one.

A real treasure Hunt.

About ten years ago, a wealthy and eccentric millionaire, Forest Fenn, hid anywhere from 1-5 million dollars worth of gold and ancient artifacts in the Rocky Mountains. And when I say gold, I mean huge nuggets of gold. And when I say artifacts, I mean ancient Chinese masks and Mesopotamian relics from thousands of years ago. All of this is contained in a small Bronze chest named Indulgence.

After hiding this incredible treasure, he published a book called the thrill of the chase, with a poem and a map which he claimed could lead anyone to the treasure.

In ten years, No one has found it.

To all intensive purposes, it does seem like the treasure is quite real and that the reality is, that though thousands have sought it, none have been able to solve the riddle.

My father, brother, and I have been working on our own solves to the riddle for several months, and will be until next summer where we will drive to the Rocky’s to test each solve, in the hopes of all becoming Millionaires. (Ill probably be live streaming it)

As a child, I dreamed about riddles and puzzles leading to hidden treasure. Temples and idols, traps and manuscripts filled my dreams and my time as I dreamed of a more interesting world. I played video games, read books, created art and poetry, all because the normal world has always bored me, always seemed…. sort of fake. Media has been my escape, but in many ways, an escape looking for something more real. I’ve found quite a lot of that reality in God, but even in my faith there has seemed to be something missing from the world.

Then I found Forests challenge. A literal call to adventure. A real mystical journey with a real prize.

And as much as I want the treasure for myself (I actually feel confident that I have a chance in finding it), I think each and every one of you should look for it too.

Not because of Greed, not because normal life is bad, not because a wild journey is the point in and of itself, but because it points to something real.

That reality is that “Normal life”, a 9-5 job, Netflix, online documentation about nutrition supplements, is only half the story.

While I believe the spiritual world is real and important, I also believe there is a region of our souls we ignore quite frequently. An area that we can only glance at in adventure stories and games.

I think we all yearn to be a part of something grand, something passionate, something unique.

Something more alive than the lives we know.

That doesn’t necessarily mean going on a treasure hunt. It could mean getting up early every morning this next month to take walks around your neighborhood to get a bigger perspective on the world. It could mean starting a unique tradition to pass on beauty and truth to your children in an awe inspiring way. It could mean being on the ground floor of a social movement to advocate for change.

It means fighting the complacency of life, to create beauty, to be vibrantly alive, to be angry (I am Jacks Smirking Revenge) at evil.

Maybe that starts this morning.

Maybe that starts with a treasure hunt.

Here’s a link for a place to start http://fennclues.com/fenn-treasure-where-to-start.html

Look to higher things.

Sincerely,

Gabriel Hatcher