Back in the days of homesteading, there were some very large ranches owned and controlled by rugged, hearty, wealthy, individuals. The Grant/Kohrs ranch in Montana is one such example, consisting of something along the lines of four million acres. Another was owned and operated by Two Dot Wilson. Two Dot, of course was a nickname. I first learned of him and his fascinating story because of a blizzard in central Montana where I lived. The highway was closed at Harlowton. Although we were only a short distance from home at Buffalo, nevertheless my son and I had to rent a motel room for the night. We made the trip into town to get something to eat. At the restaurant was a little book on the history of the area and that is where I learned of Two Dot Wilson. There is a little village in the area named after him.
Mr. Wilson was amazingly wealthy for his time. He owned thousands of cattle, a large number of sheep and hundreds of horses. He was good to the Indians who would visit and was known as a generous, gracious man. In the vernacular of our day we might say, “he had it all.” Except the one thing he wanted the most – a wife. Since Two Dot didn’t want to marry a woman from the area, he took a trip back east where he was from to find just the right one. Because he did not want his future wife to marry him because he was wealthy, it was his practice to not dress as a gentleman of his day. Instead, he dressed casually as any rancher of his day. Two Dot did in fact fall in love with someone and they were married. The story said that while on the stagecoach heading back to the homestead on the prairie of Montana, the new Mrs. Wilson looked at her husband and said something like this; “honey, do you think it’d be alright to get just one ole cow so we can have milk for the table?” Two Dot had not told her nor had she any idea of the extreme wealth of her new husband. The ranch had an abundance of cows and far greater riches than she could ever imagine.
This great story illustrates one of my favorite verses in the Bible, found in First Corinthians, chapter two, verse 9; “…No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.”
And so it is with our Great God and His kingdom. We are like Two Dot’s wife so-to-speak. In Ephesians chapter five, verses 22 and following, the Apostle Paul teaches what God’s will is for marriage. Then in verse 32 of the same chapter, he writes; “This is a profound mystery – but I am talking about Christ and the church.” Like Mrs. Wilson who had no idea of the wealth that awaited her, so do we as believers in Jesus Christ have only a little idea of the magnitude of the fantastic, wonderful things God has in store for those who love and seek Him. In chapter three of his letter to the church at Ephesus, verse 8, Paul refers to this as… “the unsearchable riches of Christ…”
What does this have to do with you and me? If our desire in life is to want all that God has in store for us, both in this life and the life to come, it is worth pursuing. If we seek God and desire His will to be accomplished in our lives, He is more than willing to be found of us and to give us the abundant life He promised here in this world and eternal life when our journey in this life is complete. There is nothing more important in our lives than the relationship we have with our Creator and God and His son Jesus Christ. May it be the pursuit and goal of the short time we spend in this world, to search for and find, “the unsearchable riches of Christ.” When we seek Him and are found of Him, we truly become “rich,” like Two Dot’s wife, but incomparably so much more.