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:
One of my monthly responsibilities at Mainstay Ministries, the not-for-profit that my husband and I co-direct, is to write the donor letter. We have a giving base that covers the overhead of a office, a part-time staff and the payback of a loan we made to our own ministry from the inheritance left to David by his father.
So I am often pushing against a deadline, pulling all the pieces together—the letter, the reply device, the tagline on the envelope—month after month after month. I used to hate this job, but now I see it as a way to connect with those 400 or so people who have faithfully supported us since we left the public media—national broadcasting, radio and television, our own publishing house, Mainstay Church Resources, and the 137-some pastors conferences that we sponsored annually for over ten years.
When we closed down the public-media aspects of the ministry, there were some 20 years of daily broadcast and television archives that needed storing. Since reel-to-reel tapes, cassettes, and the video masters degrade quickly and with no climate-controlled environment in which to store them, David and I decided to haul everything to a dumpster. This was not easy, but in light of the fact that we also had to get rid of some 400 TONS of print products (most of which was created by our Mainstay editorial teams), at the time it seemed the least of our worries.
But a friend, who is working on special projects with David, mentioned in passing that he had archived many of the radio broadcast (The Chapel of the Air) tapes. So when I was putting together this month’s donor letter, I kept nudging my husband to ask our friend if he had any of the many interviews we had done with those incredible Christian leaders who are now dying but whose words and thoughts and lives still have meaning for us today.
David finally called our friend, Dean Wilson (who generously posts these blogs week after week). “Why yes,” said Dean. He had archived the cassettes of the Chapel of the Air broadcasts—and in a climate-controlled environment. Since Chuck Colson died this spring, we wondered if Dean could find those interviews. “Give me a few hours,” he replied. In exactly two hours, the radio interviews with Chuck Colson had been located, digitized from the audio copies, remixed with a taped introduction provided by Dean, and sent to a website where David and I could review their contents.
All of a sudden, 20 years of broadcast ministry (we used to air daily over 500 stations) came flooding back at us. There was the voice our booth announcer, Tedd Seeley, who had opened and closed the broadcast for decades. There was the musical bed composed by David’s brother-in-law, Ronn Huff. “Who wrote Tedd’s copy?” I wondered aloud. “Nancy Gruben,” David replied—one of our past remarkable employees.
We decided to have the broadcasts transferred to CD copies as a thank-you to any friends who gave gifts this month of over $30. What an amazing find! “There are all kinds of interviews,” said Dean. “We could provide an audio library of significant voices from the past.”
People say that God never wastes anything in our lives, and I am old enough to know that this is true. Like many people, however, I just forget. This little story is a wonderful reminder of that fact. We tossed the broadcasting and telecasting masters some ten years ago, but here they are again, in serviceable condition.
How like God to surprise us with this retrospective reality—nothing, really, ever is lost in His economy. He is a Good Teacher and reviews the lessons we once learned and need know about in His Master Class: Walking With God 101.
I spy God!—God the Conservator, the One who restores, renews, preserves and refurbishes everything in our lives so it can be made useful again (even when we have forgotten it).
Yes, 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 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.
