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 every day occurrences of your life. Here’s one of my personal God Hunt Sightings:
For the last 10 years, we have been out of the country over the Fourth of July. Most often, we attend the Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario during these dates. We might drive home to Chicago on the evening of the Fourth with the night sky bursting in brilliant fireworks colors 360° around us.
Before this 10-year hiatus, we regularly hung American flags around the house, hauled out the red, white and blue towels to dry off kids after the traditional backyard water-fight, and shared a bean-bake, hot dog, and hamburger barbecue with friends and family in the back yard.
This year (2011) we were in town, and last year I purchased five new flags and flag-holders to hang on the rebuilt front-porch post in preparation for this year’s Independence Day celebration.
The only problem was as July approached, I couldn’t find where I had stored the holders when I put away unfinished summer projects last autumn. Found the unopened flags still in their plastic holders, found the poles and stripped them of their faded and sagging flags, but where was my stapler and where were those holders?
I have learned over the years that the best thing to do when I misplace articles (keys, purses, cell phones, glasses, etc.—unfortunately, all lost with all-too-frequent regularity) is to stop and pray, Dear God, the One who delights in finding all lost things, who specializes in locating misplaced people, as well as misplaced objects, will You please help me to remember where I put the (whatever)?
Then, if I will just sit and be still, move out of the frenetic search mode into the quiet receptive mode, I always (so far always) hear a gentle reminder as to where the lost object is hidden.
But this time, I was busy, moving through the list and I searched first—all over—and prayed belatedly. Try the toolbox in the garage. I ignored that inner nudge, my search mode taking dominion over the quiet listening mode.
Finally, I heard again, and this time I paid attention: Try the toolbox in the garage. Sure enough, beneath the tray holding screwdrivers and hammers, there hid the box labeled “Stapler. Heavy Duty.”
I stapled the five new flags to the flagpoles, and having learned my lesson, prayed the same prayer about my flagpole holders. Quickly, I remembered I had stored them in a plastic container on the furnace-room shelves.
The beautiful red, white and blue American flags (all five of them) now wave their patriotic message from the front-porch posts, and as is our custom, they will stay outside until we take them down after Labor Day.
The point of this, however, is that the God of the Universe, who loves the whole world, we are told, is also the God who delights in helping us find the dislocated, misplaced, forgotten or neglected objects of our lives.
The new flags flying on their new holders on the freshly painted posts on the Mainses’ front porch do not only speak loudly of patriotism—they wave in the wind about the daily intervention of a God who cares about displacements and regularly intervenes to help us in our lostness. If He can help us find our way through the trivialities, He is more than provident to assist us when life-threatening or soul-harrowing events threaten to displace us.
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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 micro-finance 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.
