Karen Mains is a professional writer, mostly for the religious markets, with 25 published books to her credit.
 
Her first book on Christian hospitality, Open Heart Open Home, has sold more than 650,000 copies, and her work has been awarded several national prizes. With a background in daily radio, television and publishing, Karen is crucially involved in the issues of the times—working to develop microenterprise projects, relating current culture to issues of concern to Christian men and women, and keeping a critical eye on developments in the arts.

Her spiritual growth ministry, Hungry Souls, is a division of Mainstay Ministries, which she co-directs with her husband, Dr. David R. Mains.

Hungry Souls serves as a developmental laboratory to design and test tools for spiritual growth. Karen is involved in developing retreats of silence and in training retreat leaders. She has overseen some 240 Listening Groups in the last four years.

She is in the process of developing an Internet-based / teleconferencing mentoring approach for Wannabe (Better) Writers on writing personal memoirs.

Karen and her husband live in West Chicago, Ill., and have four adult children, all married, and eight grandchildren. This blog is a compendium of her opinions on everyday events and experiences. Karen is an avid gardener, a developing mixed-media artist, an avid book-lover, and DVD fan. She is passionate about cross-cultural issues, environmental concerns, and is intrigued by the impact of globalization on our world.

Have you ever gone on a God Hunt? A God Hunt begins when you teach yourself to look for God’s hand at work in the everyday occurrences of your life. Here’s one of my personal God Hunt Sightings:

The days that I remind myself that I am collaborating with God in his design for my life and ministry are the days when everything goes smoothly—often breathtakingly so. The days when I just cry “Help! Help!” are not so easy—I kind of bump and stumble and waste time and get delayed.

Yesterday was an example of a collaborate effort between myself, the all too human Karen, and the Divine, a great and transcendent and all-powerful yet intimate Heavenly Father.

Moved with compassion over the huge financial burden of my nephew and his wife after two premature births, both babies with allergies, and one with a twisted bowel (altogether some 18 weeks in the Neo-Natal Intensive Care Unit), I have taken it upon myself to raise the amount to pay off the remaining medical bills that are sitting on this young couple’s credit cards.

Trying to be sensitive (sometimes, as we all are learning, helping actually hurts), I interviewed my nephew and his wife, consulted with my sister and brother-in-law, talked with a few close friends, wrote a draft letter, had it edited, ran that past everyone for suggestions or corrections, then sent it off to the designer via my son who manages our print projects through his company, Pathmaker Marketing.

Yesterday, when I came into the office, two boxes of No. 10 business size envelopes—100 in all— were sitting on my desk. It was my plan to print a tag line on them and hopefully, a photo of the for-sale sign on their house (due to the huge payouts for the extraordinary hospital bills, their out-of-pocket premiums that are now the equivalent of another mortgage payment).

I had decided that we could save funds and run off the envelopes and the designed letter on the color copier in our office, but I had never needed to learn how to run this kind of project through our copying machine. Searching through my computer programs, I found the one that teaches users how to run off multiple envelopes as well as the short lecture that teaches how to do your own design.

We decided that a tag line on the envelope should read: “Update on Baby Merrick: Kailey and Brendan Bell.”

Just as I was struggling with this, one of the faithful volunteers who helps out several hours a week (and without whom I could not be productive) came into the office. She is a retired home-economics teacher and used to office equipment.

“Oh, I know how to do that!”

Of course. I had prayed the prayer of collaboration. Our editor, who is part-time knew exactly how to manage the program when she ran into glitches and was available just when we needed him before he was called away because of an emergency in his family. I didn’t want to include a photo of the baby on the outside of the envelope and ship it through public mail, so I settled on what I felt was an even stronger image of the For Sale sign in front of the house.

Before my editor left, all three of us figured how to run multiple copies through the copier and how to make sure they were printed in color. My volunteer assistant and I stuffed the envelopes with a reply envelope on which I handwrote in red ink—“Baby Merrick Account”—and as she left the office, she took the envelopes home, packed them in a sturdy box and had them in the mail by 4:46 p.m. My sister could begin addressing envelopes while we waited for the letter to return from the designer.

What a collaboration!—done and out the door. Why is it I don’t remember to always get myself into this attitude and understanding that God is as interested in collaborating in my life as I need Him to do so? Not only that, I think He takes as much joy in working with me as I take in those days that go like smoothly oiled mechanics in some kind of master clockwork machine.

Perhaps this attitude of collaboration with my Heavenly Father is just not as yet a habit and the more I work at it, the more it will work in me to become a practice. At any rate, I strongly recommend that those who are not collaborating with God on creating their lives with him should try out this delightful practice.

“So he shepherded them with a faithful and true heart, and guided them with the skillfulness of his hands.” Psalm 78:72

I spy God!

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Award-winning author Karen Mains has long had an interest in spiritual formation and the obedient Christian walk. She has written about the God Hunt in her book by the same name, The God Hunt: The Delightful Chase and the Wonder of Being Found. A hardback copy can be ordered from Mainstay Ministries for $10.00 plus $4.95 shipping and handling. Contact Karen at info@mainstayministries.org and she will be happy to autograph a copy for you.

Karen continues to write content for her Christian blog, “Thoughts-by-Karen-Mains.” In so doing, she desires to touch the lives of Christian women and men and help them find ways to walk closer with the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition, through silent retreats, spiritual teaching, women’s retreats, Christian vacation opportunities, and other ministry activities, Karen helps each Christian woman and man receive vital spiritual food.

Through her Hungry Souls ministry, Karen serves as a spiritual coach to many Christian women and men, and teaches a mentor-writing class. And, through the Global Bag Project, she is working to develop a network of African women who sew exquisite cloth reusable shopping bags, Africa bags. This microfinance women opportunity helps provide a much-needed sustainable income for struggling African families. For more information on this critically important project, please click here.

For decades, Karen and her husband, David, have served God through religious communications—radio, television, and print publication. They are the co-authors of the Kingdom Tales Trilogy: Tales of the Kingdom, Tales of the Resistance, and Tales of the Restoration. To find many valuable resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries main website, please click here.

Likewise, pastors will find special resources to help them prepare effective, life-transforming Sunday sermons by visiting David Mains’ website by clicking here.

(GHS-271)

Have you ever gone on a God Hunt? A God Hunt begins when you teach yourself to look for God’s hand at work in the everyday occurrences of your life. Here’s one of my personal God Hunt Sightings:

Our Internet service had been disconnected for about two weeks, and I was too busy to take the time to sit down with my new laptop and figure out how to get it started. David has a new iPad that he’s enjoying learning to use, and a wonderful friend gave me a new laptop. Both of these have touch screens, and I, in particular have been struggling to learn Windows 8. So I kept putting off my all-important phone call for help.

In addition, getting back on the Internet, so I can be productive at the office and at home, is not an easy undertaking. If I am required to unplug the modem filter, or the phone line, I have to squeeze in the corner between file drawers and a book case, scoot the book case out from the wall a few inches so that I can reach my arm while I am scrunched into the corner bending my knees to be low enough to feel blindly for the outlet and the plug. Sometimes I am a little desperate pushing up from this cramped spot—will my knees be strong enough?

Just as I had suspected, this contortionist’s position was required some four times when I finally made the call while the phone technician read the monitoring system on her end of our consultation. A couple times, when the phone line was disconnected in my study, I had to run back and forward between rooms. Several times, she had to phone me when we lost connection. In addition, I was still working through my unfamiliarity with the Windows 8 system on my new laptop. The whole process took a couple hours, and I became friendly with the very patient technician. (Fortunately, I could understand her since she was an American.)

We were waiting patiently for a signal on the laptop screen to indicate that the modem had performed certain functions. “How did you get into this?” I wondered. “Were you a techy-type.”

“Oh no,” she answered. “Far from it, but they train you extensively to work with the computers.” They hadn’t trained her to work with people who had the Internet Connectivity screens that popped up with my Windows 8 system, however. She confidentially confessed that one day she realized people on the phone were working on their end with screens that neither she nor her colleagues knew how to navigate. Resourceful, they just learned along with the users!

We waited so often that I could have fixed my hair and put on makeup for a 7:00 evening meeting that was on my schedule. “Do you think this will finish in time?” I wondered, explaining that I needed to leave in 20 minutes.

“Let’s hope so.”

Sure enough, with five minutes to put on lipstick and run a brush through my hair, I was finally back on the Internet again. We tested a few pages, and I thanked her profusely.

As you can imagine, all this time, the contortionist act, the running between rooms, the squeezing into the corner space, the insecurity of not knowing what I was really doing with my Windows 8 function, my apologies, and then the nervousness about missing a meeting that I had actually called were worth the effort and anxiety. As we all know, we have become Internet dependent.

This is all a fairly apt metaphor for struggling to keep in touch with God through prayer and the intentional direction of our minds around His promises toward us. We hit a bad patch in our life, the connectivity with our own selves, with others, and with the divine goes awry. We can’t get through, hear what we need to hear, figure out where should be, and the temptation always exists that this communication thing with God just doesn’t work; we should just give up.

Don’t give up. Crawl into that awkward corner again and again. Stretch to reach behind the heavy storage unit. Unplug what needs to be unplugged. Plug in what needs to be plugged in. Answer the other extension phone when it rings. Run between rooms to hear the next instruction. Do what you are told. Wait and wait and wait for life’s seeming interminable corrections.

God, your Technical Advisor is working on your behalf. He is making things better for you, sometimes by correcting your character as He goes. But whatever you do, don’t give up. You can be late for that meeting—meetings come and go. But, being connected with Him, truly connected, is one of the best things that can happen in your life.

One day, all the lights on the modem will be green and you will hear a voice saying, “There, I think everything is all up and running again. Happy to be at your service.”

I spy God!

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Award-winning author Karen Mains has long had an interest in spiritual formation and the obedient Christian walk. She has written about the God Hunt in her book by the same name, The God Hunt: The Delightful Chase and the Wonder of Being Found. A hardback copy can be ordered from Mainstay Ministries for $10.00 plus $4.95 shipping and handling. Contact Karen at info@mainstayministries.org and she will be happy to autograph a copy for you.

Karen continues to write content for her Christian blog, “Thoughts-by-Karen-Mains.” In so doing, she desires to touch the lives of Christian women and men and help them find ways to walk closer with the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition, through silent retreats, spiritual teaching, women’s retreats, Christian vacation opportunities, and other ministry activities, Karen helps each Christian woman and man receive vital spiritual food.

Through her Hungry Souls ministry, Karen serves as a spiritual coach to many Christian women and men, and teaches a mentor-writing class. And, through the Global Bag Project, she is working to develop a network of African women who sew exquisite cloth reusable shopping bags, Africa bags. This microfinance women opportunity helps provide a much-needed sustainable income for struggling African families. For more information on this critically important project, please click here.

For decades, Karen and her husband, David, have served God through religious communications—radio, television, and print publication. They are the co-authors of the Kingdom Tales Trilogy: Tales of the Kingdom, Tales of the Resistance, and Tales of the Restoration. To find many valuable resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries main website, please click here.

Likewise, pastors will find special resources to help them prepare effective, life-transforming Sunday sermons by visiting David Mains’ website by clicking here.

(GHS-270)

Have you ever gone on a God Hunt? A God Hunt begins when you teach yourself to look for God’s hand at work in the everyday occurrences of your life. Here’s one of my personal God Hunt Sightings:

While bundling three little grandkids into their car seats in the back of their parent’s car, I bent down to talk a little with Nehemiah, age three. I love his fat cheeks and his happy personality (at least around us—grandparents don’t have to deal too much with temper tantrums). “I love you,” I said after he was buckled in.

His answer: “I don’t love you.”

Now I have raised three boys of my own, and David and I have five grandsons. I know that there are phases in boys’ lives when they don’t want a grandmother nuzzling their cheeks and whispering lovey-dovey words into their ears. Consequently, when Nehemiah replied to me, “I don’t love you,” I didn’t take it personally. He’s only three years old, after all. He may mean it at the moment, but he doesn’t mean it permanently.

He’ll love me again when I pull out the new book I’ve ordered for him titled Spots. On the first page, there’s one spot. The instructions say to push the spot twice. On the next page there are two spots (and so forth all through the book.) So I’m not at all bent out of shape with his slightly rebellious three-year-old declaration of non-love.

I wonder if this isn’t more like God than unlike God. We tend to think when we have given ourselves to some act of rebellion that He is shocked with our behavior. I suspect it’s more like that of an ancient Grandfather with one of his young and immature off-springs. He knows we’ll get it sorted out eventually, that we’ll begin to remember all the good gifts He’s given to us, and that this little tantrum, this nasty shout of disbelief or rebellion can be chalked up to immaturity. After all, we’re only 18—or 28—or 38—or 48 … you get the idea. He knows we’ll get over it.

We’ll get over it pretty soon, in fact, because He also knows He’s brought us that delightful book. (Have you been reading it?).

I spy God!

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Award-winning author Karen Mains has long had an interest in spiritual formation and the obedient Christian walk. She has written about the God Hunt in her book by the same name, The God Hunt: The Delightful Chase and the Wonder of Being Found. A hardback copy can be ordered from Mainstay Ministries for $10.00 plus $4.95 shipping and handling. Contact Karen at info@mainstayministries.org and she will be happy to autograph a copy for you.

Karen continues to write content for her Christian blog, “Thoughts-by-Karen-Mains.” In so doing, she desires to touch the lives of Christian women and men and help them find ways to walk closer with the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition, through silent retreats, spiritual teaching, women’s retreats, Christian vacation opportunities, and other ministry activities, Karen helps each Christian woman and man receive vital spiritual food.

Through her Hungry Souls ministry, Karen serves as a spiritual coach to many Christian women and men, and teaches a mentor-writing class. And, through the Global Bag Project, she is working to develop a network of African women who sew exquisite cloth reusable shopping bags, Africa bags. This microfinance women opportunity helps provide a much-needed sustainable income for struggling African families. For more information on this critically important project, please click here.

For decades, Karen and her husband, David, have served God through religious communications—radio, television, and print publication. They are the co-authors of the Kingdom Tales Trilogy: Tales of the Kingdom, Tales of the Resistance, and Tales of the Restoration. To find many valuable resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries main website, please click here.

Likewise, pastors will find special resources to help them prepare effective, life-transforming Sunday sermons by visiting David Mains’ website by clicking here.

(GHS-269)

Have you ever gone on a God Hunt? A God Hunt begins when you teach yourself to look for God’s hand at work in the everyday occurrences of your life. Here’s one of my personal God Hunt Sightings:

Due to my travel schedule and the fact that Carla Boelkens, the Director of the Global Bag Project, volunteers one day a week in the GBP office, neither one of us has had time to appropriately market the beautiful reusable shopping bags the Kenyan women make to earn a living for themselves and their children. Consequently, we have had few home parties in the last months, and home parties are our major venue for selling their products.

I’m clearing my schedule for the days ahead so that I can rectify this, but for the time being, the $225 rent for the storage room we use as a Global Bag Project office is overdue.

I had a meeting in Danville, Illinois this past Saturday. Danville is about three hours from West Chicago, where we live, so I looked forward to the drive downstate as a time I could spend concentrating on prayer, and I had several wonderful uninterrupted hours interceding for the people I love and thanking God for all the amazing gifts He pours into our lives. On the drive down, I decided that I would use the money from my book table sales to pay for the rent, which I thought was about $250.

The women’s meeting was a delight. I’m pretty sure that if I attended Second Church of Christ in Danville, Illinois, all the gals who planned this event would become close friends—believe me, that is a wonderful feeling to have about all the strangers one meets on the road if you are part of the speaker’s circuit.

When I opened the envelope that held my honorarium, I discovered that I had been paid almost $200 more than the fee I was offered—this was an unexpected and welcome generosity (since my personal checking account was down to $34.41). What a lovely God who cares for us in such immediate and practical ways!

Not only that, I discovered that I had sold $249 worth of books, only one dollar short of paying for the GBP rental fee. How does He do this? I wondered. With all His children all around the world, how does God give us what we need when we need it almost to the exact amount? Obviously, I could make up the dollar difference.

I had money enough to pay for the groceries I bought on the way home for the crowd that was coming for Sunday dinner (I’d taken $100 in small bills from my checking account to make change for the book table).

Coming in the front door, I called out to David, “I’m home!”

He replied, “Oh, I have a surprise for you.” It was a small—but nice—royalty check for a book I’d written. (All in all, an exceedingly profitable day.)

This morning, sitting at the desk, I realized (and had forgotten) that my Social Security check is electronically transmitted on Wednesday. Now I have money to pay for help with spring cleaning the yard (two teenagers of close friends are my yardmen), buy topsoil and compost for the garden boxes and the new cold frames, and plant the cool weather crops that hopefully some nearby nursery has started for me.

I’m a wealthy woman! And—the monthly GBP rent is $225, not $250—so I won’t even be out one dollar to make up the difference. Actually, I sometimes feel a little sad for people of great wealth. How can they possibly know the delight of living day to day and seeing God meet their needs, pay their bills in unexpected ways, or feel the rush of joy that comes from knowing that a Heavenly Father loves you so much? Do they even understand that He is able to provide for you down to the last penny?

“On this day the Lord has acted; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:24

I spy God!

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Award-winning author Karen Mains has long had an interest in spiritual formation and the obedient Christian walk. She has written about the God Hunt in her book by the same name, The God Hunt: The Delightful Chase and the Wonder of Being Found. A hardback copy can be ordered from Mainstay Ministries for $10.00 plus $4.95 shipping and handling. Contact Karen at info@mainstayministries.org and she will be happy to autograph a copy for you.

Karen continues to write content for her Christian blog, “Thoughts-by-Karen-Mains.” In so doing, she desires to touch the lives of Christian women and men and help them find ways to walk closer with the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition, through silent retreats, spiritual teaching, women’s retreats, Christian vacation opportunities, and other ministry activities, Karen helps each Christian woman and man receive vital spiritual food.

Through her Hungry Souls ministry, Karen serves as a spiritual coach to many Christian women and men, and teaches a mentor-writing class. And, through the Global Bag Project, she is working to develop a network of African women who sew exquisite cloth reusable shopping bags, Africa bags. This microfinance women opportunity helps provide a much-needed sustainable income for struggling African families. For more information on this critically important project, please click here.

For decades, Karen and her husband, David, have served God through religious communications—radio, television, and print publication. They are the co-authors of the Kingdom Tales Trilogy: Tales of the Kingdom, Tales of the Resistance, and Tales of the Restoration. To find many valuable resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries main website, please click here.

Likewise, pastors will find special resources to help them prepare effective, life-transforming Sunday sermons by visiting David Mains’ website by clicking here.

(GHS-268)

Have you ever gone on a God Hunt? A God Hunt begins when you teach yourself to look for God’s hand at work in the everyday occurrences of your life. Here’s one of my personal God Hunt Sightings:

Our five-year-old granddaughter, Eliana, came rushing out the door of her house when she saw our car drive up her driveway. “Come! Come!” she shouted, running in her stocking feet across the muddy lawn to the backyard of the next door neighbor. She paused when she sensed we weren’t following close on her heals. “Come! Come and see!” And then, just to make sure we felt the urgency she was feeling, she called, “It’s important!”

When we reached the neighbor’s back yard, we could see what all the fuss was about. Their yard was broadcasted with thousands of blue scilla flowers, little tiny stars sprinkled, as if by magic, throughout all the grass. These were the first flowers of an all too cold, too long-delayed Midwestern spring.

Eliana paused to see if we were appropriately in awe, standing in her muddy stockings and without a coat and jacket. She swept her hand, while grandly gesturing to include the whole wondrous display. “See,” she said. “It’s beautiful!”

Many of the ancients who wrote what is known to us moderns as wisdom literature made exactly the same point. Some think that the most important thing we can do to grow ourselves spiritually is to pause—stop our frantic pace—to open our eyes and to see.

“It’s important!” said the five-year-old child, too impressed to put on a jacket or shove her stocking-feet into shoes. Indeed, it is.

“With my whole heart I seek you …” Psalm 119:10. It is important. Come! Come and see!

I spy God!

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Award-winning author Karen Mains has long had an interest in spiritual formation and the obedient Christian walk. She has written about the God Hunt in her book by the same name, The God Hunt: The Delightful Chase and the Wonder of Being Found. A hardback copy can be ordered from Mainstay Ministries for $10.00 plus $4.95 shipping and handling. Contact Karen at info@mainstayministries.org and she will be happy to autograph a copy for you.

Karen continues to write content for her Christian blog, “Thoughts-by-Karen-Mains.” In so doing, she desires to touch the lives of Christian women and men and help them find ways to walk closer with the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition, through silent retreats, spiritual teaching, women’s retreats, Christian vacation opportunities, and other ministry activities, Karen helps each Christian woman and man receive vital spiritual food.

Through her Hungry Souls ministry, Karen serves as a spiritual coach to many Christian women and men, and teaches a mentor-writing class. And, through the Global Bag Project, she is working to develop a network of African women who sew exquisite cloth reusable shopping bags, Africa bags. This microfinance women opportunity helps provide a much-needed sustainable income for struggling African families. For more information on this critically important project, please click here.

For decades, Karen and her husband, David, have served God through religious communications—radio, television, and print publication. They are the co-authors of the Kingdom Tales Trilogy: Tales of the Kingdom, Tales of the Resistance, and Tales of the Restoration. To find many valuable resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries main website, please click here.

Likewise, pastors will find special resources to help them prepare effective, life-transforming Sunday sermons by visiting David Mains’ website by clicking here.

(GHS-267)

Have you ever gone on a God Hunt? A God Hunt begins when you teach yourself to look for God’s hand at work in the everyday occurrences of your life. Here’s one of my personal God Hunt Sightings:

Flying home from San Francisco, I was assigned a middle seat in the last row and struck up an intriguing conversation with the woman seated in the window seat beside me. It so happens she was an ob-gynecologist who specialized in high-risk pregnancies. We began talking about the baby in my extended family who had just been released from spending 12 weeks in the Neo-Natal Intensive Care Unit. The baby had been born prematurely with food allergies in addition to a twisted bowel condition that required surgeries.

My concern, of course, was for the baby to begin to thrive—putting on weight at this stage is a necessary factor for life—and we began to talk about the incredible advances in medical technology that allow for an infant who would normally have died to survive.

“Indeed,” she continued. “We are actually creating some of our own health cost scenarios.” She went on to explain that this amazing technology can actually allow operations on a child still in the uterus, such as what takes place when ultra scans reveal an embryo with a deformed heart. “However, in my field—high-risk pregnancies—I just dread having a pregnant mother come to me who has had one of these pre-natal operations, because it creates all kinds of complications in her own pregnancy.”

My sister laughs ruefully that she has million-dollar grandbabies. This is actually not quite true—million-dollar-and-a-half grandbabies—would be more like it. Baby Rhys needed Neonatal Care for five weeks before his brother, Merrick, was born this year and needed 12 weeks in NICU. Insurance has covered most of the whopping expense, but increased the premiums, and the insurance industry has also decreased the amount of payments it is covering for clients seeking psychological counseling, which is my nephew’s (the father of these adorable little boys) profession. This amounts to almost a 50% cut in salary for this family!

Not being able to pay two mortgages (one on the house and one to the insurance) company, a FOR SALE sign has now gone up on the property where my sister and I lived as girls. This is a hard but appropriate decision to make, but one that many have faced in our years of economic collapse.

However, knowing something about the fatigue of living through a possible death and life scenario and imagining now having to pack up and relocate, I was moved to ask friends and family to help pay down the remaining medical expenses on the credit cards

I have personal experience with overwhelming debt—because of a collusion of accusations years ago, our ministry ended up with a debt of $2,600,000 dollars. It has taken us fifteen years to clear this off and we have been the recipients of amazing miracles and loving gifts that have taken our breath away. Without unexpected and loving assistance from others, David and I could never have shoveled our way out from under the weight of that black and oppressive debt mountain.

So why am I taking the time to mount a campaign among friends and friends of friends, with family members, some close and some not so close? Why have I taken the time to meet with my nephew and his wife and to hear their story and to figure out what we could reasonably do to help financially? Why have I found a young web designer who is willing to give his time gratis to design a website? Why am I volunteering that our part time office staff will look over donations and set up a separate account to manage funds and design the direct-mail package? Why am I happy to oversee this campaign for the next few months?

That’s easy to answer, isn’t it? I have been where my nephew and his wife are—at least I’ve been close enough to where they are to imagine how crushing the pressures they are facing must feel. Simply, this is called empathy. The truth is: None of us can empathize very well without having walked down troublesome paths.

I know this debt can’t be paid down without the help of that One who delights in cancelling debts. So, I am already eagerly anticipating what His surprising and amazing plans will be. I know this God who loves life will not disappoint. Paraphrasing King David from Psalm 4:3:

“Know that the Lord does wonders for the faithful; when we call upon the Lord, he will hear us.”

I spy God!

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Award-winning author Karen Mains has long had an interest in spiritual formation and the obedient Christian walk. She has written about the God Hunt in her book by the same name, The God Hunt: The Delightful Chase and the Wonder of Being Found. A hardback copy can be ordered from Mainstay Ministries for $10.00 plus $4.95 shipping and handling. Contact Karen at info@mainstayministries.org and she will be happy to autograph a copy for you.

Karen continues to write content for her Christian blog, “Thoughts-by-Karen-Mains.” In so doing, she desires to touch the lives of Christian women and men and help them find ways to walk closer with the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition, through silent retreats, spiritual teaching, women’s retreats, Christian vacation opportunities, and other ministry activities, Karen helps each Christian woman and man receive vital spiritual food.

Through her Hungry Souls ministry, Karen serves as a spiritual coach to many Christian women and men, and teaches a mentor-writing class. And, through the Global Bag Project, she is working to develop a network of African women who sew exquisite cloth reusable shopping bags, Africa bags. This microfinance women opportunity helps provide a much-needed sustainable income for struggling African families. For more information on this critically important project, please click here.

For decades, Karen and her husband, David, have served God through religious communications—radio, television, and print publication. They are the co-authors of the Kingdom Tales Trilogy: Tales of the Kingdom, Tales of the Resistance, and Tales of the Restoration. To find many valuable resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries main website, please click here.

Likewise, pastors will find special resources to help them prepare effective, life-transforming Sunday sermons by visiting David Mains’ website by clicking here.

(GHS-266)

Have you ever gone on a God Hunt? A God Hunt begins when you teach yourself to look for God’s hand at work in the everyday occurrences of your life. Here’s one of my personal God Hunt Sightings:

I was chastising myself that I hadn’t finished the last draft of the Dominican Republic script we had filmed in February and not sent off to the videographer. This is the first film shoot I have ever directed and since it was a budget film, David and I were the scriptwriters, and David the on-camera host. I was not only the director, but made the notes and script changes that a DA (director’s assistant would normally make).

Since returning in February, I’ve been making all those rounds of physical checkups that I had literally neglected for six years. I signed myself up with a new medical group, researched the Medicare allotments for physicals (read TIME magazine’s expose on hospital costs, “The Bitter Pill”) and acted as a good consumer by asking: “How much will this cost and how much will Medicare pay?” before I showed up for my examinations and tests. I still have one or two more tests to make appointments for—my thyroid needs examining and somewhere I lost the blood test order—but considering that I have avoided all this for quite a few years, I am beginning to feel virtuous about the physical side of taking responsibility for my health.

We researched nearby dentists who used our dental insurance (my dentist is retiring), and I actually drove past their offices to choose one with the most aesthetic-looking environment. I wanted an office in West Chicago, filled with lots of Hispanics and a dentist who was interested in getting to know his patients some.

I fit in one book research week to California in March and caught up on all the office lists that had been neglected because of Christmas, and two Dominican trips, one in January and the last one for a documentary film shoot.

We had Easter for fifteen people and my daughter and I shared the duties, then David and I turned around and made our way to Maine for a few days together before we headed into all what appears to be an over-active spring schedule.

The uncompleted script kept nagging at me somewhere in a far back quadrant of my mind. However, the day we stayed home, Monday after Easter, flying out on Tuesday instead, an e-mail passed my desk, and I realized that my videographer was out of town and would not be returning until a week after we came home from Maine. I pulled the file of notes, and shoot lists, and script revisions and left it on my desk.

Somehow, my good God knew that David and I needed the quiet of a few days in a beautiful environment. We read and watched television and explored the little towns of Rockland, Rockport and Camden Maine.

Even coming home with a cold, even with days where I lazed in bed and slept off the effects of an infection, I still had two days to work on the script; one day for initial edits, and the next day for fine-combing corrections, editions, deletions and coordinating the schedule list with the final script.

What a gift! I think God is in these intimate scheduling details of our lives. He intervenes and helps us when we don’t know how to help ourselves. The relief I felt at not having to work, or to be productive on vacation was wonderful. Then to know that I had plenty of time to do a good job when I returned even deepened my feeling of release from anxiety.

“I will give thanks to you, for you answered me, and have become my salvation.” —Psalm 118:21

I breathe a prayer like this Psalm over all the days of my life. From day to day He is my salvation.

I spy God!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Award-winning author Karen Mains has long had an interest in spiritual formation and the obedient Christian walk. She has written about the God Hunt in her book by the same name, The God Hunt: The Delightful Chase and the Wonder of Being Found. A hardback copy can be ordered from Mainstay Ministries for $10.00 plus $4.95 shipping and handling. Contact Karen at info@mainstayministries.org and she will be happy to autograph a copy for you.

Karen continues to write content for her Christian blog, “Thoughts-by-Karen-Mains.” In so doing, she desires to touch the lives of Christian women and men and help them find ways to walk closer with the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition, through silent retreats, spiritual teaching, women’s retreats, Christian vacation opportunities, and other ministry activities, Karen helps each Christian woman and man receive vital spiritual food.

Through her Hungry Souls ministry, Karen serves as a spiritual coach to many Christian women and men, and teaches a mentor-writing class. And, through the Global Bag Project, she is working to develop a network of African women who sew exquisite cloth reusable shopping bags, Africa bags. This microfinance women opportunity helps provide a much-needed sustainable income for struggling African families. For more information on this critically important project, please click here.

For decades, Karen and her husband, David, have served God through religious communications—radio, television, and print publication. They are the co-authors of the Kingdom Tales Trilogy: Tales of the Kingdom, Tales of the Resistance, and Tales of the Restoration. To find many valuable resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries main website, please click here.

Likewise, pastors will find special resources to help them prepare effective, life-transforming Sunday sermons by visiting David Mains’ website by clicking here.

(GHS-265)

Have you ever gone on a God Hunt? A God Hunt begins when you teach yourself to look for God’s hand at work in the everyday occurrences of your life. Here’s one of my personal God Hunt Sightings:

I returned from Maine with a cold coming on. Oh, drat! I thought. It seems that the last few months since Christmas have been spent treating and recovering from one minor physical distress after another. But a cold is a cold, so I doctored myself with Airborne^®, the “Effervescent Health Formula” (according to the label) “Created By A Second Grade Teacher” who was tired of catching her students’ communicable diseases. And, I sent David to Walgreens to pick up bottles of Dayquil^® and Nyquil^®.

On Saturday and Sunday nights, I slept a good six hours deeply without waking once. On Monday, I dragged myself into the office, but came home early. On Tuesday, I decided to bow to the inevitable and stayed home, napping in the morning, then reading on the couch in the living room where David made a fire for me in the fireplace.

I finished reading 1969: The Year Everything Changed by Rob Kirkpatrick. I labored through our book club book (deadline: this coming Sunday) titled, My Name Is Red by Orhan Pomuk, a modern Turkish author writing a murder mystery set in the 16th Century Ottoman Empire and dealing with the narrow world of the court miniaturist artists. (It was a good book to read on a sick day because it required one’s full attention.) I finished off the small pile of magazines that I hadn’t had time to read, waded through Richard D. Wolff’s Occupy the Economy: Challenging Capitalism and finished the final chapters of Christopher Hitchen’s Love, Poverty, and War: Journeys and Essays, which I have been reading off and on throughout the year since he died.

I did make my dentist’s appointment Tuesday afternoon. Feeling badly that my cold was four days fresh, I apologized to the hygienist, “I thought about cancelling my appointment.” “Oh, no,” she said. “We have all these little kids through here.” Indeed, I could see several wiping their noses even as we spoke.

“In fact,” said the dentist, coming in and shaking my hand, which I instructed him to wash, thinking of all the tissues I had been using (one was even now tucked under my thigh as I was stretched prone on the examining chair). “I think we protect ourselves from bacteria and viruses too much. The first year I was in practice, I caught everything. After that year, I have just been healthy. Getting sick is often the way the body strengthens the immune system.”

So he examined and cleaned my teeth. We commented on the new technology. He scanned my mouth and tongue and gums with a blue light ray to determine that I had no cancer. He came up with a treatment plan for the dental work I needed in the days ahead and somehow the two of us started exchanging humorous comments and started laughing so much that the gals at the desk gathered in the hall to see what was going on in the examining room.

So this is what is good about colds:

1. You have an excuse to come home early from work.
    
2. You can take a morning nap.
    
3. You sleep well at night due to the decongestant and antihistamine syrup you swigged at 9 o’clock in the evening.
    
4. You can read through all those piles of books that you have neglected.
    
5. You can cancel on evening meetings.
    
6. You can go to see the dentist anyway and he won’t catch your germs because he’s developed dental antibodies.
    
7. You discover that your new dentist has a sense of humor.
    
8. Your husband will bring you a bowl of popcorn in the afternoon when you have gone to bed.
    
9. You can enjoy one of the last fires of the season in the fireplace.
    
10. You have time to thank God for the good life you have lived and the many graces that are experienced in each day, day after day, day after day, even when you have a cold.

I spy God!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Award-winning author Karen Mains has long had an interest in spiritual formation and the obedient Christian walk. She has written about the God Hunt in her book by the same name, The God Hunt: The Delightful Chase and the Wonder of Being Found. A hardback copy can be ordered from Mainstay Ministries for $10.00 plus $4.95 shipping and handling. Contact Karen at info@mainstayministries.org and she will be happy to autograph a copy for you.

Karen continues to write content for her Christian blog, “Thoughts-by-Karen-Mains.” In so doing, she desires to touch the lives of Christian women and men and help them find ways to walk closer with the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition, through silent retreats, spiritual teaching, women’s retreats, Christian vacation opportunities, and other ministry activities, Karen helps each Christian woman and man receive vital spiritual food.

Through her Hungry Souls ministry, Karen serves as a spiritual coach to many Christian women and men, and teaches a mentor-writing class. And, through the Global Bag Project, she is working to develop a network of African women who sew exquisite cloth reusable shopping bags, Africa bags. This microfinance women opportunity helps provide a much-needed sustainable income for struggling African families. For more information on this critically important project, please click here.

For decades, Karen and her husband, David, have served God through religious communications—radio, television, and print publication. They are the co-authors of the Kingdom Tales Trilogy: Tales of the Kingdom, Tales of the Resistance, and Tales of the Restoration. To find many valuable resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries main website, please click here.

Likewise, pastors will find special resources to help them prepare effective, life-transforming Sunday sermons by visiting David Mains’ website by clicking here.

(GHS-264)

Have you ever gone on a God Hunt? A God Hunt begins when you teach yourself to look for God’s hand at work in the everyday occurrences of your life. Here’s one of my personal God Hunt Sightings:

“The pilot will give up his seat and sit in the cockpit on the jump seat. There are now two seats and if you hurry, we can get you on this flight to Portland, Maine.”

The gate attendant had figured out a way that David and I could both make this flight. We had been standby passengers number 3 and 4 with four empty seats registering on the overhead screen that shows the list of standbys and how many seats are left empty.

I shuddered when the monitor showed that there were now only three seats left, then two, then one. “Both of you can’t fit on this flight. Do you want to fly separately, or do you want to step down?”

As David and I paused, then jointly decided we would wait for the next flight (some five hours later), which would land us at our destination around 11 o’clock at night, she suddenly had a bright idea. “Wait here. If I don’t come back, just know that the plane’s doors have been closed and the flight is scheduled to depart.”

To say the least, it was a tenuous moment, but we are learning to exercise absolutely trust in this flying without tickets world. Airlines move their flight personnel to and fro using the open seats on scheduled flights and sometimes our places in line are commandeered by their necessity to go where they go.

In just a moment or two, she was back, hurriedly hastening us down the runway. “Make sure you thank the pilot,” she called to us about five times. I figured that was pretty important to do.

“Glad you made it on board,” said a stewardess.

“Who do we thank?” I called out. She pointed to a pilot scurrying into the cockpit. “Blessings on you for doing this,” I called to him. “I will bless you this whole flight.” He ducked his head—a younger man, a little embarrassed by the attention—but he had given up a seat with legroom so that one of us could take it and so that both of us could be on the same flight. This meant we would arrive at our destination with plenty of time to find our way after a two-hour drive.

But really, as generous as this unknown man was (moving probably because he thought of his own friends and family members who had also been given standby passes; two extra passes are granted to each employee), it is really God to whom we are suspecting we owe a debt of gratitude. This is the fifth or sixth flight we’ve taken in the last months with standby passes where we’ve been given the last seat on an airplane. Somehow (knowing how really busy and preoccupied He must be), assigned Standby Angels seem to be negotiating seat arrangements, no-shows, and our ownwould-be flyer anxiety levels.

He shall give his angels charge over you is much more than a comforting and familiar phrase from Scripture. These days, it is a practical reality. I think of it every time I am given the last empty seat on an airplane, no matter what my number may be in the standby line.

I spy God!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Award-winning author Karen Mains has long had an interest in spiritual formation and the obedient Christian walk. She has written about the God Hunt in her book by the same name, The God Hunt: The Delightful Chase and the Wonder of Being Found. A hardback copy can be ordered from Mainstay Ministries for $10.00 plus $4.95 shipping and handling. Contact Karen at info@mainstayministries.org and she will be happy to autograph a copy for you.

Karen continues to write content for her Christian blog, “Thoughts-by-Karen-Mains.” In so doing, she desires to touch the lives of Christian women and men and help them find ways to walk closer with the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition, through silent retreats, spiritual teaching, women’s retreats, Christian vacation opportunities, and other ministry activities, Karen helps each Christian woman and man receive vital spiritual food.

Through her Hungry Souls ministry, Karen serves as a spiritual coach to many Christian women and men, and teaches a mentor-writing class. And, through the Global Bag Project, she is working to develop a network of African women who sew exquisite cloth reusable shopping bags, Africa bags. This microfinance women opportunity helps provide a much-needed sustainable income for struggling African families. For more information on this critically important project, please click here.

For decades, Karen and her husband, David, have served God through religious communications—radio, television, and print publication. They are the co-authors of the Kingdom Tales Trilogy: Tales of the Kingdom, Tales of the Resistance, and Tales of the Restoration. To find many valuable resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries main website, please click here.

Likewise, pastors will find special resources to help them prepare effective, life-transforming Sunday sermons by visiting David Mains’ website by clicking here.

(GHS-263)

Have you ever gone on a God Hunt? A God Hunt begins when you teach yourself to look for God’s hand at work in the everyday occurrences of your life. Here’s one of my personal God Hunt Sightings:

I loved the signs in Boynton and McKey’s Food Co. in Camden, Maine where David and I stopped for breakfast. This café, a former drug store and apothecary, has become “everyone’s favorite breakfast joint” (according to one travel writer). One sign read:

The other one declared:

David and I planned a spring break away from the office for the last Saturday of March. So he used our time-share plan and exchange points at a getaway resort in Rockland, Maine, but after the booking was done, we looked seriously at our calendars and said, “Nope. Can’t do that. We’ll miss Easter Sunday.” On the Monday after Easter Sunday, scheduled to fly out of O’Hare with our standby passes, we looked over at one another after waking and said, “Nope. Can’t do that. Let’s leave Tuesday instead.” We were both so tired, just the thought of packing another suitcase to go somewhere—anywhere—was more than either of us could manage.

We arrived at the Samoset Resort just as the sun had set and evening was settling on that coastland. Consequently, waking up in the morning (cold but sunny) and seeing Penobscot Bay down the rolling lawn outside our window, with the Atlantic Ocean beyond that was a delight. We spent two days wandering the fifteen-mile-or-so radius from our hotel, which is a joy in the gorgeous geography of Main’s Midcoast region. There were no tourists—it was too soon for that season—so shopkeepers were delighted to have potential buyers step into their empty stores. They were all gregarious, helpful in answering our questions—and many were garrulous.

In Camden, which is a quintessential New England seaport with white dowager-like homes climbing the hills above Camden Harbor, which we clearly viewed because none of the trees had budded, everything was suspended in a long wait for Spring; the Harbor itself embracing ships with sheathed masts and exquisite church spires lifting the eye of the viewer toward the skies. We discovered the Camden waterfalls that ran beneath the main streets to tumble down toward the bay, looking ever so much as though the houses and shops were sitting on top of the plunging spew as it made its way over the rocks to divide into several branches before melding with the harbor.

We drove up the Mt. Battie State Park roadway for a breathtaking scenic view of Camden and its Harbor. Surely, this was one of the most picturesque sites in all of Maine. However, as one Maine resident exclaimed while we were passing by, “That Nor’easter blowing in. Just chills you through the bones.” The weather was beautifully sunny but the temperature was bone-rattling cold.

By rights, David and I shouldn’t be able to travel like this, but due to the grace of a benevolent Heavenly Father (and generous friends), we fly free (for this year), stay in gold-star inns (due to timeshare weeks that were given to the ministry) and hold to a shopping philosophy where we enjoy the pleasures of looking but don’t purchase anything (except for some pertinently worded greeting cards and a small box of eight Maine chocolates).

However, we get to see the beauty of this world, its exquisite longingness, its evocation of nostalgia. As one of it’s natives, the Putlizer Prize-winning poet, Edna St. Vincent Millay, wrote in the poem, God’s World:

“…O Lord, I fear
Thou’est made the world too beautiful this year …”

The Psalmist hadn’t visited Maine, but he was all too familiar with the transcendent that gets evoked when we discover unexpectedly beautiful places.

“You visit the earth and water it abundantly,
       You make it very plenteous; the river
       of God is full of water …
You drench the furrows and smooth out the ridges;
       with heavy rain you soften the ground and bless its increase…
May the meadows cover themselves with flocks; and the valleys cloak
       themselves with grain; let them shout for joy and sing.”

                                                                     —portions from Psalm 65

Indeed, even in the season before the coming spring, when not a bud has popped out on a branch or limb, and we shudder in the sunshine with the north east wind blasting that unique light that occurs when land and sea combine, we too fear that Lord, Lord you’ve made the world too beautiful this year.

I spy God!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Award-winning author Karen Mains has long had an interest in spiritual formation and the obedient Christian walk. She has written about the God Hunt in her book by the same name, The God Hunt: The Delightful Chase and the Wonder of Being Found. A hardback copy can be ordered from Mainstay Ministries for $10.00 plus $4.95 shipping and handling. Contact Karen at info@mainstayministries.org and she will be happy to autograph a copy for you.

Karen continues to write content for her Christian blog, “Thoughts-by-Karen-Mains.” In so doing, she desires to touch the lives of Christian women and men and help them find ways to walk closer with the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition, through silent retreats, spiritual teaching, women’s retreats, Christian vacation opportunities, and other ministry activities, Karen helps each Christian woman and man receive vital spiritual food.

Through her Hungry Souls ministry, Karen serves as a spiritual coach to many Christian women and men, and teaches a mentor-writing class. And, through the Global Bag Project, she is working to develop a network of African women who sew exquisite cloth reusable shopping bags, Africa bags. This microfinance women opportunity helps provide a much-needed sustainable income for struggling African families. For more information on this critically important project, please click here.

For decades, Karen and her husband, David, have served God through religious communications—radio, television, and print publication. They are the co-authors of the Kingdom Tales Trilogy: Tales of the Kingdom, Tales of the Resistance, and Tales of the Restoration. To find many valuable resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries main website, please click here.

Likewise, pastors will find special resources to help them prepare effective, life-transforming Sunday sermons by visiting David Mains’ website by clicking here.

(GHS-262)

Have you ever gone on a God Hunt? A God Hunt begins when you teach yourself to look for God’s hand at work in the everyday occurrences of your life. Here’s one of my personal God Hunt Sightings:

I’ve been trying to get all my medical exams and tests done in the first few months of this year, and it is an enormous interruption to fit it all in because of my already-full schedule. But since I’ve not had a breast exam or a Pap smear or a bone density test (not to mention blood work, etc.) for the last six or seven years, and since Medicare pays for that yearly examination, I really didn’t have any excuse not to proceed, especially since my doctors are all retiring. Consequently, I’ve also had to put together a new medical-personnel system.

My sister recommended a general physician. She gave me an exam, then recommended which tests I needed to make appointments for at the nearby hospital. Our office manager pulled the names of dentists who are open to new patients and also accept our Delta Dental insurance. I actually drove past their offices to see which I liked the best before I made a phone call. (At my age, dentists are a big deal—I have one molar missing and one that has broken in half.) And I signed up with a kinesiologist to begin examining the places where I was nutritionally or chemically imbalanced.

When the hospital outpatient office called again to inform me that they needed to retake one of the imaging photographs and that I needed to make an appointment for another mammogram, I was too busy to get upset about it. We have no history of breast cancer in our family, and frankly, I have other physical ailments that are of bigger concern to me (like my lack of sleep). Lots of friends have also been called back for repeat exams, with no negative results.

However, sitting in the waiting room of the “Breast Treatment Center” with six other women all wearing those ugly hospital gowns, then having to wait a little longer than I expected (“You know this could take up to two hours,” said the nurse at the counter. No, I hadn’t known that) made me realize that I was a little anxious.

The eventual conclusion was that the original photo had shown what they were calling a little tissue shadow—nothing at all to be worried about—and that I didn’t need to wait for a second opinion on the x-ray.

It was then that I felt how good it is to have good news. Often, many of us go through life with shoulders unknowingly clenched waiting for the bad news that doesn’t come (given a whole lifetime of living) more than it does come. Our papers and the Internet are filled with horrific stories of murders and human aberrations, fires and famines and floods—no wonder we all too often expect the worst.

Years ago, Oprah Winfrey made popular the random-acts-of-kindness movement. “Your toll has been paid by the gentleman in the car in front of you…” and other sorts of small considerations. It was actually a lovely idea.

However, what about another movement that encourages random good-news bearers? “Here’s some good news,” we could say to one another. “You do not have to replace your water heater.” “You have unexpected money coming to you from an unexpected source.” “You are healthier than you think you are.”

Would these kind of comments eventually help us unclench our clenched shoulders? Would we be able to see, with enough good news, that much of the universe is a benign and loving place created so we could enjoy and be at wonder about its glory?

How remarkable that the word “Gospel” means “the good news.” God looked into the long future of mankind’s historic passage and knew that this reality of good news would be imperative for our survival, for our fruitfulness, for our constant encouragement. Scriptures say that the apostles “went about preaching the good news of the Kingdom of God.”

So let us speak this word of power; let us look into our own personal lives and detect what, exactly, is the good news of each day. And let us tell it to others. Then let us look into the divine plan in the world and discover the good news that is in God’s mind. And let us tell it to others. “On this day the Lord has acted; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24.)

I suspect—in fact, I can promise—that this practice will make a huge different in our outlook and how we feel about our lives. Let us learn to live in the good news, and let us randomly get into the habit of sharing it with others.

I spy God!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Award-winning author Karen Mains has long had an interest in spiritual formation and the obedient Christian walk. She has written about the God Hunt in her book by the same name, The God Hunt: The Delightful Chase and the Wonder of Being Found. A hardback copy can be ordered from Mainstay Ministries for $10.00 plus $4.95 shipping and handling. Contact Karen at info@mainstayministries.org and she will be happy to autograph a copy for you.

Karen continues to write content for her Christian blog, “Thoughts-by-Karen-Mains.” In so doing, she desires to touch the lives of Christian women and men and help them find ways to walk closer with the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition, through silent retreats, spiritual teaching, women’s retreats, Christian vacation opportunities, and other ministry activities, Karen helps each Christian woman and man receive vital spiritual food.

Through her Hungry Souls ministry, Karen serves as a spiritual coach to many Christian women and men, and teaches a mentor-writing class. And, through the Global Bag Project, she is working to develop a network of African women who sew exquisite cloth reusable shopping bags, Africa bags. This microfinance women opportunity helps provide a much-needed sustainable income for struggling African families. For more information on this critically important project, please click here.

For decades, Karen and her husband, David, have served God through religious communications—radio, television, and print publication. They are the co-authors of the Kingdom Tales Trilogy: Tales of the Kingdom, Tales of the Resistance, and Tales of the Restoration. To find many valuable resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries main website, please click here.

Likewise, pastors will find special resources to help them prepare effective, life-transforming Sunday sermons by visiting David Mains’ website by clicking here.

(GHS-261)

Have you ever gone on a God Hunt? A God Hunt begins when you teach yourself to look for God’s hand at work in the everyday occurrences of your life. Here’s one of my personal God Hunt Sightings:

Last week, partly because of so much travel, and partly because of the arthritis that I suspect is beginning to make its home in my body, I just didn’t have the energy to tackle the work that is complaining to me about not getting done.

Moreover, I had volunteered to be in charge of the church potluck. We are just forming missional communities, and each one is delegated to take care of various potluck dates, but because we are all new to this system, I was a little dubious about what kind of help I would have.

Because our church meets in a school gymnasium, most everything we need has to be hauled from our storage trailer or from our homes, then we need to clean up and haul everything back. My list included: pack up coffee pot, creamers, sugar, white mugs and basket for discards; pull three bins down from the attic, which store 100 rattan serving plates, paper plates, plastic silver already rolled in napkins, tablecloths; clean off outside lanterns and stand; refill salt and pepper shakers, spoon brown sugar in a crock and chopped nuts in a bowl; load up roasting pans with 50 aluminum-foil covered sweet potatoes. Needless to say, our car was full.

A Potato Bar had sounded good for a March Sunday that was still very much in the throes of winter weather, so I posted a menu via e-mail and then tried not to worry if we would have enough food.

Baked potatoes (white and sweet)
Toppings: warmed crock-pot cheese spread

Chili for topping
Chopped chives, onions, cilantro, tomatoes
Bacon bits
Sour cream
Butter
Brown sugar (for sweet potatoes)
Chopped nuts

French bread with hard crust (with easy-spread butter)
Green salad or fresh cut vegetables with dressing or dip
Bottles of iced tea
Dessert: cookies and fresh fruit

As potluck dinners go, at least those that are informally planned, we had more than enough of some items (LOTS of potatoes) and not enough of other items (hardly any green salad, no iced tea and no French bread). What was wonderful was that there was plenty to feed the 70-or-so people who took plates.

No one went away hungry even though the meal was a little unbalanced nutritionally and the little immigrant girls went and grabbed the small pots of early jonquils (which I thought I would use in my Easter centerpiece). They were all so delighted and so adorable, however, I couldn’t begrudge the yellow blossoms marching out the door.

What was even more wonderful was the help I had setting up and striking the serving tables and cleaning the gymnasium kitchen. As much as I love planning large eating events that give people opportunities to gather and chat and connect with each other, there is no denying it’s a lot of work.

To have the school oven scrubbed because the sweet-potato butter and drippings puddled on its bottom, to have silverware washed that we usually haul home dirty, to have bins carried out the gym door to the storage trailer and some loaded into my car, to hear the words, “Anything else we can do?” made the church potluck an absolute joy for me. One of my criteria for a healthy small group is, “Do we work well together?”

I’ve been thinking much lately about the power of the aggregate, of how we really don’t accomplish much in the world for good (although we are always tempted to think that we do) without the helping hands of others, without their encouragement, without their labor, without their good will, and often without their sacrifice. The incredible little section at the end of the book of Mark was written to an aggregate, to a plural you:

“And these signs will accompany those who believe; by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.” (Mark 16:17-18.)

I know it is prosaic to use church potlucks as an example of the potential of this powerful passage, but frankly, this morning, without the aching back I usually have after a big church-feeding event, after a week in which I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time napping, I’m experiencing a most-practical illustration of the power of the corporate you.

“You will feed large crowds without experiencing unusual fatigue…”

I spy God!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Award-winning author Karen Mains has long had an interest in spiritual formation and the obedient Christian walk. She has written about the God Hunt in her book by the same name, The God Hunt: The Delightful Chase and the Wonder of Being Found. A hardback copy can be ordered from Mainstay Ministries for $10.00 plus $4.95 shipping and handling. Contact Karen at info@mainstayministries.org and she will be happy to autograph a copy for you.

Karen continues to write content for her Christian blog, “Thoughts-by-Karen-Mains.” In so doing, she desires to touch the lives of Christian women and men and help them find ways to walk closer with the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition, through silent retreats, spiritual teaching, women’s retreats, Christian vacation opportunities, and other ministry activities, Karen helps each Christian woman and man receive vital spiritual food.

Through her Hungry Souls ministry, Karen serves as a spiritual coach to many Christian women and men, and teaches a mentor-writing class. And, through the Global Bag Project, she is working to develop a network of African women who sew exquisite cloth reusable shopping bags, Africa bags. This microfinance women opportunity helps provide a much-needed sustainable income for struggling African families. For more information on this critically important project, please click here.

For decades, Karen and her husband, David, have served God through religious communications—radio, television, and print publication. They are the co-authors of the Kingdom Tales Trilogy: Tales of the Kingdom, Tales of the Resistance, and Tales of the Restoration. To find many valuable resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries main website, please click here.

Likewise, pastors will find special resources to help them prepare effective, life-transforming Sunday sermons by visiting David Mains’ website by clicking here.

(GHS-260)

Have you ever gone on a God Hunt? A God Hunt begins when you teach yourself to look for God’s hand at work in the everyday occurrences of your life. Here’s one of my personal God Hunt Sightings:

My faith that God is guiding my journey is tested every time I use my standby pass to travel by air. A friend has graciously made this available to me, and we are beginning to total up the amount of monies we are saving as David and I both have a great deal of journeying in our schedule this year.

However, my trust is tested every time I check in, receive my boarding pass (with STBY clearly labeled on it), then find a place in the waiting room to see whether I make the flight or not. The trip I took two weeks ago entailed a leg out of Chicago to Phoenix, then out of Phoenix to San Francisco, then from San Francisco to Modesto, from Modesto to San Francisco, and finally from San Francisco back to Chicago.

The mid-morning flight from Chicago to Phoenix was fine. My name was number four on the posted standby list. The plane was large, other travelers had flown out on earlier flights—I was even assigned a seat in an exit row, where the leg room is much more compatible than in the painfully crowded economy rows.

Leaving Phoenix for San Francisco was another matter. The 10 o’clock flight was full, the plane was smaller, and my name was number six on the list. I have made it a rule of thumb not to scoot from counter to counter, trying to take care of myself, but simply to trust the process of boarding and reassigning. I’m learning to simply let the Lord take care of me. Because I was troubled that morning by something pressing upon my heart, I decided not to read or make notes for writing, but to spend the time in prayer and to include all the strangers who also were waiting to fly to San Francisco.

Because I was paying attention, I realized that a good number of folk were traveling through San Francisco to different points in China. Our flight was delayed due to fog in the Bay Area, and the gate attendant called for people connecting to Seattle. About four people were reassigned to another flight. They weren’t on the standby list, but it did mean that more seats had become available on the full plane.

I marveled at the patient way the gate attendant rerouted customers, how careful and kind she was to pay attention to the Chinese man who approached the counter multiple times with urgent questions about transferring his family in San Francisco for a flight to Shanghai, and what he should do if they missed their flight, where they should stay, etc., etc. (How well I recognized traveler’s anxiety.) His English was heavily accented, and I had great trouble understanding him, but she just kept at it until she was sure she comprehended. In time, an American traveler, also watching the little drama at the counter, approached and offered his translation capabilities. Soon, most of the man’s anxieties were allayed.

One airline employee checked to make sure she would get out on this flight, and the attendant assured her that when the plane finally left, she would be on it. My name had now moved up to fourth place in the standby list, but I was pretty sure I wouldn’t make it.

At last the pilots gave word that they had been cleared to board passengers and now I was waiting near the counter, attempting to calm my own nerves and tell myself that I had thrown my traveling future away to God and that whatever happened, He was in control. three. Then lo and behold, two more names were announced and they were no-shows; I actually made it on the delayed plane to San Francisco, and I was even assigned an Economy Plus seat!

Coming home, however, my name was number 16. There was no way I was going to make that flight on a Friday afternoon from a busy hub airport like San Francisco. I almost left the gate area to find a decent place to purchase lunch. But this rule of thumb is beginning to apply in all this traffic drama: Don’t leave the gate. So I stayed, but not before I checked the air-traffic monitors, where I discovered that the next flights for Chicago left two hours later, and two hours after that. I phoned David at home to give him a heads-up that the plane was full, there were 15 other people ahead of me, and I didn’t know exactly when I would be arriving.

However, I did notice that a lot of airline employees seemed to be lining up for this flight; I could tell because many of them wore tags, some were in uniforms, and I also caught snatches of conversation indicated insider’s knowledge. Perhaps this was a flight that had been added to move personnel around the system.

Reading down the names on the posted list, I discovered my name had moved up from the 16th place to number four. How could this be? I packed up my briefcase, gathered my things and moved closer to the counter just as the gate attendant called, “Karen Mains. Will Karen Mains come to the counter?”

I’m sure there are airline employees who have pretty much figured out the system that I am still too much of a novice to detect and quantify (or maybe there just isn’t a system—I’m only hoping there is). Each trip where I fly out on standby is an exercise in trust. I have no ticket in hand that guarantees me a seat on board. I have to choose to believe that God is the Ticket-Master, makes places available when needed, and knows exactly where I am headed and when.

Why then am I nervous about getting a place on the plane if I’m maintaining the belief that God is in control of my comings and goings? This verse has become exceedingly real to me, “For he shall give his angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.” (Psalm 91:11)

For me, “all (my) ways” includes airports in Chicago and Phoenix and San Francisco and Modesto—then back again. Every time I fly these days, I am growing my trust in the going. This is a stretching exercise as real as any I might employ with mats, bungee cords and a book on flexibility. I am learning the practical truth of “he shall give his angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.” This is no longer spiritual theory but a most-tangible reality. The letters on every boarding pass reinforce what I am learning: STBY.

I spy God!

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Award-winning author Karen Mains has long had an interest in spiritual formation and the obedient Christian walk. She has written about the God Hunt in her book by the same name, The God Hunt: The Delightful Chase and the Wonder of Being Found. A hardback copy can be ordered from Mainstay Ministries for $10.00 plus $4.95 shipping and handling. Contact Karen at info@mainstayministries.org and she will be happy to autograph a copy for you.

Karen continues to write content for her Christian blog, “Thoughts-by-Karen-Mains.” In so doing, she desires to touch the lives of Christian women and men and help them find ways to walk closer with the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition, through silent retreats, spiritual teaching, women’s retreats, Christian vacation opportunities, and other ministry activities, Karen helps each Christian woman and man receive vital spiritual food.

Through her Hungry Souls ministry, Karen serves as a spiritual coach to many Christian women and men, and teaches a mentor-writing class. And, through the Global Bag Project, she is working to develop a network of African women who sew exquisite cloth reusable shopping bags, Africa bags. This microfinance women opportunity helps provide a much-needed sustainable income for struggling African families. For more information on this critically important project, please click here.

For decades, Karen and her husband, David, have served God through religious communications—radio, television, and print publication. They are the co-authors of the Kingdom Tales Trilogy: Tales of the Kingdom, Tales of the Resistance, and Tales of the Restoration. To find many valuable resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries main website, please click here.

Likewise, pastors will find special resources to help them prepare effective, life-transforming Sunday sermons by visiting David Mains’ website by clicking here.

(GHS-259)

Have you ever gone on a God Hunt? A God Hunt begins when you teach yourself to look for God’s hand at work in the everyday occurrences of your life. Here’s one of my personal God Hunt Sightings:

This Lent I have chosen to give up television as an act spiritual sacrifice (due to fatigue, I often watch too much TV), but when I discovered the third season of Downton Abbey—which I had missed due to international travel—was being rerun on Monday nights, I made an excuse for myself by rationalizing that I was making up for the weeks before Lent actually began, when I had been overseas and missed the airing of this popular show.

The problem with me and television is that once I turn on the set, I can’t turn it off. I keep hoping there will be something I want to see. Most of the time, there isn’t anything worth my time, but sometimes there is. However, a Lenten vow is a Lenten vow, and my conscience was jogged with a phrase during morning prayers, “Let us make a vow to the Lord our God and keep it.” (Psalm 76:11a.)

Just to make sure that I had noticed, a similar phrase was repeated another morning, “I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the Presence of all his people.” (Psalm 116:18.) Okay, okay. I get it. If you say you’re going to give up television for Lent, you better give up television for Lent.

However, just as I was beginning to get down on myself, I was reminded of another truth by these comforting words from this liturgical prayer:

“O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways and bring us again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus Christ your Son; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.”

So I think it’s OK to watch Downton Abbey this Monday night, but to develop the practice of turning off the television when the show is over—no channel surfing allowed. (These little godly notices and reminders all come under the category of “noises in the trunk of the car.”)

I love the phrase, “Oh God, whose glory it is always to have mercy…” How often I need to remind myself of this. How often I need to extend mercy to others. How often I need to receive mercy. Even in Lent, when we break a vow, the One who loves us is gracious to all who have gone astray. … I think He is saying to me, “It’s okay. Just make a note of it and don’t do it again.”

He is the extraordinary Heavenly Father who loves us, knows what we are doing, and cares about us anyway.

I spy God!

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Award-winning author Karen Mains has long had an interest in spiritual formation and the obedient Christian walk. She has written about the God Hunt in her book by the same name, The God Hunt: The Delightful Chase and the Wonder of Being Found. A hardback copy can be ordered from Mainstay Ministries for $10.00 plus $4.95 shipping and handling. Contact Karen at info@mainstayministries.org and she will be happy to autograph a copy for you.

Karen continues to write content for her Christian blog, “Thoughts-by-Karen-Mains.” In so doing, she desires to touch the lives of Christian women and men and help them find ways to walk closer with the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition, through silent retreats, spiritual teaching, women’s retreats, Christian vacation opportunities, and other ministry activities, Karen helps each Christian woman and man receive vital spiritual food.

Through her Hungry Souls ministry, Karen serves as a spiritual coach to many Christian women and men, and teaches a mentor-writing class. And, through the Global Bag Project, she is working to develop a network of African women who sew exquisite cloth reusable shopping bags, Africa bags. This microfinance women opportunity helps provide a much-needed sustainable income for struggling African families. For more information on this critically important project, please click here.

For decades, Karen and her husband, David, have served God through religious communications—radio, television, and print publication. They are the co-authors of the Kingdom Tales Trilogy: Tales of the Kingdom, Tales of the Resistance, and Tales of the Restoration. To find many valuable resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries main website, please click here.

Likewise, pastors will find special resources to help them prepare effective, life-transforming Sunday sermons by visiting David Mains’ website by clicking here.

(GHS-258)

Have you ever gone on a God Hunt? A God Hunt begins when you teach yourself to look for God’s hand at work in the everyday occurrences of your life. Here’s one of my personal God Hunt Sightings:

I stopped at Savers (a huge big-box resale store) one morning when I decided I needed a throw-away day—a day without any appointments, with nowhere to go, nothing to do, and no one to meet.

Not only did I have a full 30%-off card, but when I walked into the store, signs announced a manager’s special: All the items with a blue or silver price-tags were half-off. So I spent a blissful morning loading two carts—pants for David at $3 each, sweaters and tops for me, a pair of riding boots ($4 with a decent heel to hold the stirrups), and lots of toys for the grandkids. It was fun! I came away with $138 worth of clothes that even at resale prices would have cost twice as much.

Packing up my little Mazda Protégé, I stuck the toys in the trunk, looking closely as I did at the wooden puzzles for Nehemiah, aged 3. I was pretty sure all the barnyard animals pieces were in the big plastic bag.

However, as I drove out of the Savers parking lot, the toy animals (which are sound-coded) began to speak from the trunk. “Moo-o-o-o-o,” said the cow noise. “Cock-a-doodle-do!” crowed the rooster voice. In fact, every time I turned right or left, something spoke from the back, like “meow,” or “woof-woof-woof!” Pig noises grunted when I hit bumps on the pavement. Changing lanes evoked the neighing of horses. It actually became rather funny. I imagined leaving the puzzles in the back to entertain friends who might in the future be riding with me.

In a way, this is a good analogy of how constantly God tries to get our attention—not to be irreverent, but it is a lot like my grandson’s puzzle—He is always making noises at us. If we only “had ears to hear.” We turn right or left turn life’s path, and He is there. (He is always there.) “Yet your Teacher will not hide himself any more, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it.’” (Isaiah 30:20b-21)

We don’t hear and we don’t see Him because we choose to ignore the noises from the back of the car. If you listen, your ears shall hear a noise behind you saying, “Go this way. Turn here. In fact, as you go, lighten up and laugh a little.”

“You shall have a song as in the night when a holy festival is kept;
and gladness of heart, as when one sets out to the sound of the flute
to go to the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel.” (Psalm 30:29)

Let us learn to create a habit of listening for the noises of the Lord.

I spy God!

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Award-winning author Karen Mains has long had an interest in spiritual formation and the obedient Christian walk. She has written about the God Hunt in her book by the same name, The God Hunt: The Delightful Chase and the Wonder of Being Found. A hardback copy can be ordered from Mainstay Ministries for $10.00 plus $4.95 shipping and handling. Contact Karen at info@mainstayministries.org and she will be happy to autograph a copy for you.

Karen continues to write content for her Christian blog, “Thoughts-by-Karen-Mains.” In so doing, she desires to touch the lives of Christian women and men and help them find ways to walk closer with the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition, through silent retreats, spiritual teaching, women’s retreats, Christian vacation opportunities, and other ministry activities, Karen helps each Christian woman and man receive vital spiritual food.

Through her Hungry Souls ministry, Karen serves as a spiritual coach to many Christian women and men, and teaches a mentor-writing class. And, through the Global Bag Project, she is working to develop a network of African women who sew exquisite cloth reusable shopping bags, Africa bags. This microfinance women opportunity helps provide a much-needed sustainable income for struggling African families. For more information on this critically important project, please click here.

For decades, Karen and her husband, David, have served God through religious communications—radio, television, and print publication. They are the co-authors of the Kingdom Tales Trilogy: Tales of the Kingdom, Tales of the Resistance, and Tales of the Restoration. To find many valuable resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries main website, please click here.

Likewise, pastors will find special resources to help them prepare effective, life-transforming Sunday sermons by visiting David Mains’ website by clicking here.

(GHS-257)

Have you ever gone on a God Hunt? A God Hunt begins when you teach yourself to look for God’s hand at work in the everyday occurrences of your life. Here’s one of my personal God Hunt Sightings:

I took a vow that I would not watch television during the 50 days of Lent. Along with this vow, I also promised that I would take the supplements provided by the kinesiologist I chose to see on the high recommendation of a friend.

God is often very funny when he takes us at our word. Not only have I been too busy to watch television, our DirecTV cable does not work. I tried to turn on the television for my granddaughter and her friend, Jake, but for some reason, it just wouldn’t cooperate.

Checking the cable connections in the back, the little notations on the back of the television over the electronic holes were all written in techno-Greek, and it truly was techno-Greek to me.

But I got the point—God was gently reminding me that I had made a vow and He was going to gently help me keep it.

Yesterday afternoon, I had a little time, fiddled with the remote commands, and got the television working. We had a clear HD picture, clear audio, the channels switched as designed. “Television’s working,” I reported to the houseful of people who were wondering what had happened to the TV. “Don’t ask me how.”

But I didn’t stay to watch it. I marched upstairs (only to get out of bed and take the handful of supplements I had forgotten to count out and swallow) and finally, went to bed.

“Present your bodies, a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable worship.”

This is the Scripture I’m chewing this month (some teachers call it meditation, but the word in Hebrew, I’m told, means “to chew on”). It is Romans 12:1. I am slowly working out what it means to be holy and acceptable. I still have a lot of figuring to do to fully understand this, but I know it has something to do with me getting healthy, learning how to sleep deeply, and not spending hours zoned out in front of the television.

God has made that perfectly clear (and there are people who say they don’t hear His voice, can’t guess His intentions). That is not my experience, not my experience at all.

I spy God!

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Award-winning author Karen Mains has long had an interest in spiritual formation and the obedient Christian walk. She has written about the God Hunt in her book by the same name, The God Hunt: The Delightful Chase and the Wonder of Being Found. A hardback copy can be ordered from Mainstay Ministries for $10.00 plus $4.95 shipping and handling. Contact Karen at info@mainstayministries.org and she will be happy to autograph a copy for you.

Karen continues to write content for her Christian blog, “Thoughts-by-Karen-Mains.” In so doing, she desires to touch the lives of Christian women and men and help them find ways to walk closer with the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition, through silent retreats, spiritual teaching, women’s retreats, Christian vacation opportunities, and other ministry activities, Karen helps each Christian woman and man receive vital spiritual food.

Through her Hungry Souls ministry, Karen serves as a spiritual coach to many Christian women and men, and teaches a mentor-writing class. And, through the Global Bag Project, she is working to develop a network of African women who sew exquisite cloth reusable shopping bags, Africa bags. This microfinance women opportunity helps provide a much-needed sustainable income for struggling African families. For more information on this critically important project, please click here.

For decades, Karen and her husband, David, have served God through religious communications—radio, television, and print publication. They are the co-authors of the Kingdom Tales Trilogy: Tales of the Kingdom, Tales of the Resistance, and Tales of the Restoration. To find many valuable resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries main website, please click here.

Likewise, pastors will find special resources to help them prepare effective, life-transforming Sunday sermons by visiting David Mains’ website by clicking here.

(GHS-256)

Have you ever gone on a God Hunt? A God Hunt begins when you teach yourself to look for God’s hand at work in the everyday occurrences of your life. Here’s one of my personal God Hunt Sightings:

I have been on an extraordinary schedule the last month—a January trip to visit possible filming sites in the Dominican Republic, a board meeting in California, starting up our missional community at the church, grandchildren visiting, back to the Dominican for a film shoot in February, home to a preaching assignment, then out to California again for a book I’ve been contracted to form.

All along the way, I’ve felt like a surgeon in the operating room where efficient, highly trained nurses place in my hand the exact tool to get the job done. In addition, I’ve tried to catch up on all my neglected medical exam (didn’t show up for a thyroid examination, and missed to breast exam appointments). David has been taking phone and Skype interviews on the documentary film he put together that focused on the slaughter of Nigerian Christians at the hands of the Boko Haram, Islamist extremists.

I’ve had people over for dinner and our eldest granddaughter took her spring break to introduce the new boyfriend to this side of the family. My journal (when I’ve gotten to it in the midst of all this busyness) is a record of evidences of God’s care.

Take the granddaughter’s new boyfriend, for instance. Jake arrived in our home just in time to haul the leather chair out of my daughter’s home, get it in the back of her truck, then take out the old recliner in David’s study that now refused to do anything but recline. The discarded chair was moved into the garage and the new leather recliner (well, the one I bought at Goodwill for $14, at any rate) was hauled upstairs. (It looks great—very.)

Jake had also spent a half-hour shoving Christmas boxes up that were waiting for a hand in the garage (and crowding our car when we parked it). Not only did he happily and willingly give a hand with the physical stuff, but he also helped David set up the new iPod that was purchased so he could Skype for these video interviews as well as have a portable means of communication so that he would not be tied to the personal computer at the office.

Oh, let’s see, it’s March, I really need help getting those boxes up into the attic—WHOA! Jake can lend a hand.

David’s knee has been bad, but I have a truck and some strong college kids. We can get the broken chair replaced with that stylish leather chair.

How in the world are we going to get this iPod figured without help?—oh, wait; we have help. Jake can do it.

I can go on and on, but I think you get the point. This morning we talked with a classroom of Palestinian children. Their teacher, a daughter of a friend of ours, had been reading them our book, Tales of the Kingdom. So we Skyped one another, and there were all the kids popping in front of the camera, waving their hands to ask questions. We talked for a half-hour before their school day ended.

And guess what? It was all to the exquisite timing of our granddaughter bringing her new boyfriend up from Indiana Wesleyan where they both go to school who “just happened” to be around when we needed him. Jake can do it. (Scalpel. Forceps. Needle and thread.)

Thank you, God. I spy You!

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Award-winning author Karen Mains has long had an interest in spiritual formation and the obedient Christian walk. She has written about the God Hunt in her book by the same name, The God Hunt: The Delightful Chase and the Wonder of Being Found. A hardback copy can be ordered from Mainstay Ministries for $10.00 plus $4.95 shipping and handling. Contact Karen at info@mainstayministries.org and she will be happy to autograph a copy for you.

Karen continues to write content for her Christian blog, “Thoughts-by-Karen-Mains.” In so doing, she desires to touch the lives of Christian women and men and help them find ways to walk closer with the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition, through silent retreats, spiritual teaching, women’s retreats, Christian vacation opportunities, and other ministry activities, Karen helps each Christian woman and man receive vital spiritual food.

Through her Hungry Souls ministry, Karen serves as a spiritual coach to many Christian women and men, and teaches a mentor-writing class. And, through the Global Bag Project, she is working to develop a network of African women who sew exquisite cloth reusable shopping bags, Africa bags. This microfinance women opportunity helps provide a much-needed sustainable income for struggling African families. For more information on this critically important project, please click here.

For decades, Karen and her husband, David, have served God through religious communications—radio, television, and print publication. They are the co-authors of the Kingdom Tales Trilogy: Tales of the Kingdom, Tales of the Resistance, and Tales of the Restoration. To find many valuable resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries main website, please click here.

Likewise, pastors will find special resources to help them prepare effective, life-transforming Sunday sermons by visiting David Mains’ website by clicking here.

(GHS-255)

Have you ever gone on a God Hunt? A God Hunt begins when you teach yourself to look for God’s hand at work in the everyday occurrences of your life. Here’s one of my personal God Hunt Sightings:

Sometimes (most of the time) the sermons we preach to others are really the sermons that we should be listening to ourselves. In the sermon I gave in our church, using the life and music of Johnny Cash as a springboard for thoughts about repentance (Lent According to Johnny Cash), I mentioned this quote from R. D. Laing:

The range of what we think and do—
Is limited by what we fail to notice;
And because we fail to notice—
There is little we can do to change
Until we notice how failing to notice
Shapes our thoughts and deeds.

Admittedly, this quote has to be read several times to understand what the little saying means, but it is profound in its potential impact.

Failing to notice (or neglecting to pay attention to) own motivations, character frailties, or inner knots is a human default. We don’t really want to know what it is we don’t want to know about our selves.

Lent is a time set aside by the early church fathers (and mothers) as a 50-day period to notice, to consider our own souls, to self-reflect on the error of our ways, so that we can develop the capacity for self-knowledge. Self-knowledge is the goal of any introspection, and when we reach it (finally and often with some kind of agony), one of the byproducts is the capacity to notice what we have not been noticing.

No matter how old you are (I am 70 years of age), this process never ends. And because I preached a sermon last Sunday on this process, I have been asking myself, “What is it I am still not noticing?”

Since I have taken a Lenten vow not to watch television for these days leading up to Easter, I’ve also diagnosed the reason for too much time spent as a couch potato is the fact that I am fatigued by 3:00 in the afternoon and just holding on until I can go to bed by 9:00.

A friend sent me to her kinesiologist, and we began the process of discovering at what points I am nutritionally and chemically deprived that might contribute to fatigue, why I am not sleeping well, and what is causing the cycle of allergic reactions that plague me all through the year. To put it simply—watching too much television is only the presenting problem. The causes of the afternoon and evening fatigues that overwhelm me are rooted somewhere in the intricate balance and imbalances that make up the sum total of human entity.

It has been an intriguing journey, and I am popping all kinds of supplements morning and evening, but a month into this experiment, I am feeling better. I’m paying attention. I’m looking inward. I’m definitely noticing.

“That it may please thee to inspire us in all our several callings,
to do the work which thou givest us to do, with singleness of heart
as thy servants, for the common good.
We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.”

—The Book of Common Prayer

I spy God!

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Award-winning author Karen Mains has long had an interest in spiritual formation and the obedient Christian walk. She has written about the God Hunt in her book by the same name, The God Hunt: The Delightful Chase and the Wonder of Being Found. A hardback copy can be ordered from Mainstay Ministries for $10.00 plus $4.95 shipping and handling. Contact Karen at info@mainstayministries.org and she will be happy to autograph a copy for you.

Karen continues to write content for her Christian blog, “Thoughts-by-Karen-Mains.” In so doing, she desires to touch the lives of Christian women and men and help them find ways to walk closer with the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition, through silent retreats, spiritual teaching, women’s retreats, Christian vacation opportunities, and other ministry activities, Karen helps each Christian woman and man receive vital spiritual food.

Through her Hungry Souls ministry, Karen serves as a spiritual coach to many Christian women and men, and teaches a mentor-writing class. And, through the Global Bag Project, she is working to develop a network of African women who sew exquisite cloth reusable shopping bags, Africa bags. This microfinance women opportunity helps provide a much-needed sustainable income for struggling African families. For more information on this critically important project, please click here.

For decades, Karen and her husband, David, have served God through religious communications—radio, television, and print publication. They are the co-authors of the Kingdom Tales Trilogy: Tales of the Kingdom, Tales of the Resistance, and Tales of the Restoration. To find many valuable resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries main website, please click here.

Likewise, pastors will find special resources to help them prepare effective, life-transforming Sunday sermons by visiting David Mains’ website by clicking here.

(GHS-254)

Have you ever gone on a God Hunt? A God Hunt begins when you teach yourself to look for God’s hand at work in the everyday occurrences of your life. Here’s one of my personal God Hunt Sightings:

On Friday, as I was spending the day pulling my sermon for Sunday morning together, a news story popped up on my computer screen. I did not call forth this story—it actually interrupted my Web research—and I almost erased it, but then noticed it was about the traffic sinkhole that opened up in the small town of Seffner, Florida, taking out the bedroom where a young man, Jeff Bush, age 38, was sleeping.

The story caught my eye because one of the points of my sermon was the fact that there are lies we tell and lies we don’t know we are telling. According to psychologists, these hidden faults are called lacunae. Webster’s dictionary defines a lacuna as a hole, a ditch, a gap in what used to be. I was emphasizing that these hidden lies are dangerous if we don’t pay attention to them. Just as I was thinking about closing the news story, I realized that God had given me the perfect illustration for the black holes in our soul that we must come to terms with when we develop a lifetime practice of becoming people of penitence.

Can you imagine how powerful this story was to the hearers of this sermon?

“The rest of the family were wakened by a loud crash, then the cries of Jeff Bush. By the time his brother, Jeremy Bush, reached the bedroom, the furniture was going, the floor was gone and he could hear his brother’s cries from the bottom of the sinkhole. Bush frantically tried to rescue his brother by standing in the hole and digging at the rubble with a shovel until police arrived and pulled him out before he too became a victim to the still sinking hole. Eventually the cries were no longer hard and monitors found not sign of life.

“I couldn’t get him out,” wept the brother. “I tried so hard. I tried everything I could.”

These quotes were also given to me: The first from Fyodor Dostoevsky in Notes From the Underground:

“Every man (and woman) has reminiscences which he would not tell to everyone but only to his friends. He has other matters in his mind which he would not reveal even to his friends, but only to himself and that in secret. But there are other things which a man is afraid to tell even to himself, and every decent man has a number of such things stored away in his mind.”

The second quote was from Joseph Conrad’s book Lord Jim, in which the character Marlow says:

“It is my belief that no man ever understands his own artful dodges to escape from the grim shadow of self-knowledge.”

At the close of the sermon and before taking Communion, we all meditated on Psalm 51. “Clear thou me from hidden faults. Keep back thy servant from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be innocent and blameless of great transgression.” In other words, “Help me to become aware of the sinkholes in my own soul so that they will not be able to suck me into themselves.”

It is an incredible feeling to realize that you are in a communicative collaboration with God your Maker. Indeed, He helps us to do His work in the world.

I spy God!

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Award-winning author Karen Mains has long had an interest in spiritual formation and the obedient Christian walk. She has written about the God Hunt in her book by the same name, The God Hunt: The Delightful Chase and the Wonder of Being Found. A hardback copy can be ordered from Mainstay Ministries for $10.00 plus $4.95 shipping and handling. Contact Karen at info@mainstayministries.org and she will be happy to autograph a copy for you.

Karen continues to write content for her Christian blog, “Thoughts-by-Karen-Mains.” In so doing, she desires to touch the lives of Christian women and men and help them find ways to walk closer with the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition, through silent retreats, spiritual teaching, women’s retreats, Christian vacation opportunities, and other ministry activities, Karen helps each Christian woman and man receive vital spiritual food.

Through her Hungry Souls ministry, Karen serves as a spiritual coach to many Christian women and men, and teaches a mentor-writing class. And, through the Global Bag Project, she is working to develop a network of African women who sew exquisite cloth reusable shopping bags, Africa bags. This microfinance women opportunity helps provide a much-needed sustainable income for struggling African families. For more information on this critically important project, please click here.

For decades, Karen and her husband, David, have served God through religious communications—radio, television, and print publication. They are the co-authors of the Kingdom Tales Trilogy: Tales of the Kingdom, Tales of the Resistance, and Tales of the Restoration. To find many valuable resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries main website, please click here.

Likewise, pastors will find special resources to help them prepare effective, life-transforming Sunday sermons by visiting David Mains’ website by clicking here.

(GHS-253)

Have you ever gone on a God Hunt? A God Hunt begins when you teach yourself to look for God’s hand at work in the everyday occurrences of your life. Here’s one of my personal God Hunt Sightings:

I had a preaching responsibility in church the third Sunday of Lent, March 3, and I arrived back in Chicago from a documentary film shoot in the Dominican Republic on Wednesday, February 27, a day later than planned because of a snowstorm closing down O’Hare Airport on the night of the 26th.

This gave me one less day for recovery time, for catching up at the office and for typing my sermon into script form before delivering it on Sunday. Before leaving the country, I had turned in my theme sentence and my Scripture to the worship leader. The sentence was: In order to live a life “holy and acceptable” unto God, repentance must become a lifelong practice that is a collaboration between the human and the divine. The Scripture, which I intended to interweave through my whole talk, was Psalm 51.

On Friday night, the younger grandchildren hit our house—Eliana, age 5, Nehemiah, age 3, and Annaliese, who is still a baby, only four months old. We love that they enjoy being with us, but when I say “hit” the house, that is exactly what I mean. There is a wall of activity and delight and noise that fills the rooms as major physical displacement begins when they pull out toy bins and favorite games.

Nehemiah was playing with a toy construction system that frustrated him. We’ve been trying to teach him not to collapse in howls and screams but to say, “Please help me.” However, the tower (monster) he was creating kept breaking apart, and this resulted in a massive meltdown with accompanying (very loud) sound effects.

Later, after we had calmed him, fixed the uncooperative building toy and soothed his feelings, Nehemiah’s mother said, “Now you need to tell Nina you’re sorry.”

He pouted his mouth, and his fat little cheeks puffed, he looked down and said in a clear and repentant voice, “I’m sorry, Nina.” It was the perfect illustration for the point I was making in the sermon (but I didn’t realize the gift had come my way until I spent all Saturday morning working on the manuscript). Then I thought, “Oh, my goodness. That is a perfect way to illustrate how adults act with our own Heavenly Father.”

Indeed, it was one of those classic illustrations out of the life of a child that clarifies succinctly the behavior of adults. On Monday evening, my daughter-in-law dropped past to help us finish up some leftovers. “I heard that Nehemiah made it into your sermon on Sunday.” See—the word about a good metaphor travels far.

One of the ways we teach people to look for God intervening in their everyday lives is in this category of “help to do God’s work in the world.”

Because I’ve written in religious markets, spent 20 years carrying my small share of broadcast work, I’ve discovered that the very quotes I need, the very ideas I’m seeking, are stimulated at just the right moment. Even the Scriptures I want to use are often embedded in that morning’s office prayer. They are nearby somewhere, at hand.

Not only is repentance a matter of a collaboration between God and man and God and woman (the point of this sermon), but there is a collaboration that goes one when a teacher is attempting to make this spiritual reality clear.

Thank you God. “Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your Name give glory because of your love and because of your faithfulness.”

I spy God!

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Award-winning author Karen Mains has long had an interest in spiritual formation and the obedient Christian walk. She has written about the God Hunt in her book by the same name, The God Hunt: The Delightful Chase and the Wonder of Being Found. A hardback copy can be ordered from Mainstay Ministries for $10.00 plus $4.95 shipping and handling. Contact Karen at info@mainstayministries.org and she will be happy to autograph a copy for you.

Karen continues to write content for her Christian blog, “Thoughts-by-Karen-Mains.” In so doing, she desires to touch the lives of Christian women and men and help them find ways to walk closer with the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition, through silent retreats, spiritual teaching, women’s retreats, Christian vacation opportunities, and other ministry activities, Karen helps each Christian woman and man receive vital spiritual food.

Through her Hungry Souls ministry, Karen serves as a spiritual coach to many Christian women and men, and teaches a mentor-writing class. And, through the Global Bag Project, she is working to develop a network of African women who sew exquisite cloth reusable shopping bags, Africa bags. This microfinance women opportunity helps provide a much-needed sustainable income for struggling African families. For more information on this critically important project, please click here.

For decades, Karen and her husband, David, have served God through religious communications—radio, television, and print publication. They are the co-authors of the Kingdom Tales Trilogy: Tales of the Kingdom, Tales of the Resistance, and Tales of the Restoration. To find many valuable resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries main website, please click here.

Likewise, pastors will find special resources to help them prepare effective, life-transforming Sunday sermons by visiting David Mains’ website by clicking here.

(GHS-252)