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:
Part of the recommendation from Pathmaker Marketing, my son’s Internet marketing group, was to choose special days as marketing initiatives for the Africa bags we sell through the Global Bag Project. His suggested list included:
- May 25—National Wine Day. (Promote wine bags with custom logos.)
- June 5— World Environment Day (Suggestion: Go green when shopping with our reusable Africa bags).
- June 18 – International Picnic Day (You can take all the fixings in our artisan made Africa bags.)
- July 4 – Independence Day (Gain independence from a dirty planet.)
- August 3 – National Watermelon Day (Africa bags are big enough to hold one.)
- Thanksgiving
- Christmas
So, in our weekly Tuesday 11 o’clock Global Bag Project staff meeting (two volunteers and one part-time worker who is paid for one day a week of work), we decided that we would try mounting a “National Watermelon Day” here in our large office complex this past August 3rd.
We can’t say this was a rousing success, even though we advertised slices of watermelon and iced tea for any who dropped by the Bag Project Office. We e-mailed everyone in the LaGrou building, offered a free watermelon for the first 10 visitors, and put baskets with a watermelon and a sign at each entrance.
The breakdown was this: We spent $187, sold one clutch bag for $5, one canvas for $15, 3 large kanga-cloth bags for $35 each for a total of $125. That meant we were $62 in the deficit.
However, we had some interesting visitors—five in all—took photos of some of them with our bags, which we need for our Internet push, and had plenty of leftover watermelon to serve guests, small groups, and coming dinner parties.
Even though this did not do what we wanted it to do (sell bags), it is still a great idea!
Sometimes even our best of efforts don’t turn out. That doesn’t mean we give up. Instead we refine, and try again. God doesn’t give up on us when we don’t “turn out.” He sees what we really are (a GREAT idea), gives us chance after chance, continues to refine us, and keeps on trying again.
I’ll let you know when and how the “National Watermelon Day” idea works with the next iteration.
I spy God! For even in disappointing events, God is present.
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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.