Good morning. A few decades ago a fellow named Joseph T. Hill decided to go into the counterfeiting business. He paid a little over $19,000 for a state of the art printer capable of doing a credible job. The only problem was finding a kind of currency that wouldn’t create problems for him, such as requiring a type of paper or ink that was uncommon. He settled on the Polish zlotys. The zlotys was the common currency of Poland, used a fairly standard paper and ink, and he was confident that his new printer could do the job of duplicating the 1,000 denomination zlotys bill.
His work seemed to go well and he thought he’d struck it rich. He printed over 3 million Polish zlotys, but his printing job wasn’t quite as good as he thought it was and he was caught while trying to trade it in for U.S. dollars.
Joseph T. Hill was sentenced in the Federal Court of Orlando, Florida to 20 years in prison plus a $15,000 fine.
Richard Johnson was the name of the U.S. Secret Service agent who apprehended Mr. Hill, and he had this to say: “The weirdest part of it is that 3 million Polish zlotys currency is currently worth about $316.00 in U.S. currency. He spent over $19,000 on his printer and another $2,000 on supplies, was given a $15,000 fine and 20 years in prison, and 3 million zlotys couldn’t have bought him a decent suit.”
Obviously, Mr. Hill did not do a very good job of establishing value before entering his criminal enterprise. Consider this passage of scripture that speaks of our value:
For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them. Psalm 139:13-16
We are created, each and every one of us, by the Master. God created us in love. God created us for love and fellowship with Himself. God created us, and thereby He establishes our value. Do not let anyone or anything convince you that you are not valuable in the extreme. You are a child of God, His masterpiece, His love.
Vern