The Most Valuable Thing in the World!

"Teach your children to choose the right path, and when they are older, they will remain upon it." Proverbs 22:6 NLT

It had been a long time since James last saw the old man. After graduation from high school, his life became very busy. He joined the Army, moved away from his home town, got married, and had kids. James had forgotten about the old man.

Then, one day out of the blue he got an email from an old neighbor buddy he grew up with, "Mr. Rodgers from down the street passed away last night. The funeral is on Monday."

All of a sudden, memories flashed through his mind and he spent a few minutes reflecting on his childhood days. James simply replied to his friend, "I'll be there."

It wasn't til then that he realized something. The man was quite old when he left his home town many years ago and James had assumed that Mr. Rodgers had died many years ago, but he "Was Alive All This Time!" He must had been close to 100 years old.

On the day of the funeral, James confessed to his friend Chris that he had forgotten about old Mr. Rodgers and felt terrible that he never took the time to visit him even one time since he left town. Chris said, "He never forgot about you. In fact, every time I saw him, he asked how you were doing. He would ramble about the time you spent together and how much he missed it. Never stopped talking about fishing in the pond!"

"He is the one who taught me how to fish," James said. "I would have never found the love for the sport if it wasn't for him and now I'm passing the same love on to my kids!" "He taught me the important things like how to tie a proper fishing knot and the difference between a male and female catfish." "Now he's gone! Why did I not come back to visit?"

After talking to Chris, James went for a walk down the street. His senses were alive and took in everything. He expected his "old stomping grounds" to be much different, but found everything to be eerily familiar. Everything was just as he remembered many years ago; even Mr. Rodgers' old house was just as he remembered.

James walked up to the window, looked inside and suddenly gasped. Everything was just as he had remembered except for one troubling detail and found himself talking out loud, "Mr. Rodger's most valuable possession is gone!" James remembered just as if it were yesterday the small tin box on top of the writing desk. "Where did the box go? Maybe someone from his family came by and got it." James had asked many times while visiting, "What is in the small tin box?" Mr. Rodgers always replied, "The Most Valuable Thing in the World!"

It has been a couple of weeks since Mr. Rodgers' funeral and James was back home. Everything was back to its crazy normal routine, work, school, and kids. Suddenly, the FEDEX truck drove up the driveway of his home and caught James entering his house like it had done many time before. Except this time, James noticed something much different about this package than any other. It looked as if it were mailed years ago. The outside of the small box looked as if it was packed many years ago. Then James noticed the return address and blurted out loud, "It's from Mr. Rodgers!" His heart raced as he tore open the package and inside found a note and the small tin box.

James' hands shook as he read the note, "Upon my death, please forward this box and its contents to James Apple. It contains the thing I value most in my life!" Tears in his eyes, James opened the box and found the most beautiful wrist watch he had ever saw in his life and on the back these words were engraved,

"James, thank you for your time! — Mr. Rodgers."

James sat there for a few moments stunned and suddenly realized what Mr. Rodgers valued more than anything else in his life was the time they spent together.
The next day at work, James put in for some much over due leave. One of his workers asked him, "Why are you all of a sudden taking this time off?" James replied, "I need to spend time with my family and thank you for your time too!"