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:
 
 
 
One of the ways we teach people to spy God every day in the world is to teach them to look for “any help to do God’s work in the world.” Yet when we say this, people often are confused. “What do you mean,” they will ask. What is obvious to me is obviously not obvious to many others.

So, I simply explain that doing God’s work in the world is anytime we seek to do good. A person does not have to have a calling to earn a master’s in theology to get that. God is good, and so, when we seek to do good in the world and find that He has helped us, we can readily identify His intervening hand in that interaction.

For instance, I write. I write books and articles and donor letters and marketing e-mails; I write this blog and an e-mail bimonthly newsletter. These days, I’m struggling to write business plans and spiritual-growth material. This is one of the ways I do good in the world. With so much writing going on, I am completely dependent upon God to catch my attention with the right idea at the right time.

A friend of ours died recently. When we were serving in an inner-city church in Chicago, he had been on our staff as Community Outreach Director. And, after my husband resigned to head up a national media ministry, this friend went on to develop a model Christian community development outreach in the slum-infested heart of the city.

I wanted to take some time to remember this friend and his life. But, since most of my memories of him were during the few years we worked together—early in our marriage—I felt that my remembrances might be trivial given the breadth of his accomplishments.

“It just so happens...”—well, I’ve learned that nothing just happens—there are reasons beyond our ken as to the whys and wherefores of life’s events. But, as far as I’m concerned, God directs our paths. It was just so divinely ordained that a college professor has been living in our home this school year, and he and I have been conversing about power structures in our society and how hard it is to confront them because they basically, even when they cause ill, have no reason to change.

This discussion caused me to order the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr’s book Moral Man & Immoral Society. Niebuhr, more than any other thinker, was the one who most influenced Dr. Martin Luther King. One quote summarized a thought I wanted to emphasize when writing this tribute to my friend: “Conflict with power structures is inevitable, and in this conflict power must be challenged by power.”

I began to think about how outrageous, how courageous, how wearying it is for mere mortals to stand against these power structures that become entrenched in our societies and do incalculable harm and how my friend, and his co-workers, served as an example of the few amazing people in the world who ask, “Why not?”

And, in this mental journey, in this non-coincidental mental journey was the theme of the e-newsletter I wanted to write for my remarkable friend, recently deceased.

Help to do God’s 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. The 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.
 
 
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