Our trip this week takes us to the eastern side of California. We’re going to Bodie—the famous ghost town. To reach it today, you have to drive about thirteen miles down a gravel road east of Highway 395. As you walk the streets of this ghost town and look into the windows of the remaining homes, businesses, and sites, you will be transported back in time.
The historic gold-mining town of Bodie is the place of one of the richest gold strikes in California. Gold was originally discovered in Coloma in January, 1848. About 10 years later, as mining declined on the western slopes of the Sierra, gold discoveries in the high Eastern Sierra got the attention of thousands of gold seekers. In 1859, W. S. Bodie and E. S. Taylor stumbled upon one of the richest gold strikes. The ore extracted from the hills amounted to millions in gold and silver. Unfortunately, Bodie was not able to enjoy his discovery. He froze to death in a blizzard while returning with supplies in November, 1859.
Mining was slow in the 1860s and most of the 1870s. Another rich strike of gold and silver ore was made in the late 1870s. Stories of the quality and amount of gold being mined by the Standard Mining Company sparked a rush of people, and Bodie became a boom-town in 1877. By 1879, Bodie had a population of approximately 8,500 people and more than 2,000 buildings.
General stores and saloons supplied the needs of the miners. More than 60 saloons and dance halls lined the streets. It was once known as the most lawless, wildest and toughest mining camp in the West. Gunfights, stage holdups, robberies and street fights contributed to its reputation of lawlessness. Bodie’s heyday was short-lived. The year 1881 saw the town in the grips of decline. The rich mines were depleted, and the mining companies went bankrupt as the miners and business people left for more prosperous areas. Bodie’s population continued to decrease. Two major fires also swept through the town. By the 1940s, Bodie was given the status of ghost town.
Here today, gone tomorrow. As the author of Ecclesiastes says, “Generations come, and generations go, but the earth remains forever,” Ecclesiastes 1:4. Things in life come and go, and some quicker than others. The older we get, the more we see and experience how fast time goes by.
I have a picture of my sons Jonathan and Daniel in my office that I see every day. It was taken the summer we first visited Bodie fifteen years ago (they were 12 and 7). My silent response is the same each time I glance at the picture, “Where did the time go?” There are many verses in Scripture that talk about the “shortness” of life. The Psalmist writes, “Remember how fleeting is my life,” Psalm 89:47. Also, Psalm 39:5, “You have made my days a mere handbreadth...” In the vast continuum of time, my life is compared to the width of a hand. James compares our life to a “mist,” and the Psalmist to “grass that withers.”
Life is short, and we can spend most of it pursuing the wrong things that have no lasting value, all because we wanted what our neighbor has. All those people that rushed to Bodie—do you think they went with the thought, it’s only going to last 3-4 years? That’s a very sobering question.
There’s a great passage in Psalms that can re-calibrate our trajectory, and re-align our course: “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom,” Psalm 90:12. It’s never too late. That’s what Jesus taught in his Sermon on the Mount. Pleasure comes and goes quickly. It’s not about what we store up here on earth. Jesus says in Matthew 6:19-20, “Do not store up for yourselves treasure on earth… But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.”
That’s why Jesus offers himself as the Bread of Life and Living Water. He says, “If you eat of me, and drink of me, you will never hunger and thirst again.” It really comes down to, “Teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”
You walk around a place like Bodie, and you get to experience the truth that things come and go. Civilizations come and go. People come and go. What once was thriving, is now gone. Ruins around the world testify to this. Visit Rome, Greece, South America and the Holy Land, and you’ll see the evidence.
After visiting Bodie, the thought that went through my mind was an observation; a lesson: “how not to have a ghost town existence.” I need to “number my days,” and be aware of what life is really all about. I once read, “The way you see your life shapes your life.” How do you see your life? As a party, a race, a marathon, a battle or game, as a journey…? Your unspoken life metaphor influences your life more than you realize. It determines your expectations, your values, your relationships, your goals, and your priorities.
In order to keep us from becoming too attached to earth, God allows us to feel a significant amount of discontent and dissatisfaction in life. We’re not completely happy here because we’re not supposed to be. Earth is not our final home. We were created for something more and better.
In God’s eyes, the greatest heroes of faith are not those who achieve prosperity, success, and power in this life, but those who treat this life as a temporary assignment and serve faithfully, expecting their promised reward in eternity. Pass on what you know to others. The night before Jesus’ death, he told his Father, in prayer, what he had been doing for the last three years. He helped his disciples to know and love God, taught them to love each other, gave them the word so they could grow in maturity, showed them how to serve, and then sent them out to tell others.
How do we not have a ghost town existence? Don’t hide from the next generation the message of what God has done for us in and through his Son Jesus Christ. The Apostle Peter writes, “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever,” 1 Peter 1:24. What lasts forever? The Word of the Lord—Christ. How do we not to have a ghost town existence? Have Christ as our source of life—as our Lord and Savior, as the one we pass on. Live beyond self.
Our prayer: “God, give me a fever for you, help me to trust you with all my heart and walk your path laid out for me, I need your cleansing for my sin, and Lord, as I reflect on the brevity of life, help me to pass on what you have done for me.” In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
It’s great traveling with you. Blessings.
Join me next week, as together we continue
south to Owens Valley—were lush turned to dust, and we see that "it’s all up to the
flow."
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