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 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.
