The Scavenger Hunt

 Dan Lane

Several years ago when our two local grandsons were little, we came up with an idea to add a little fun to Christmas. We called it “The Scavenger Hunt”. Basically, we gave one of them a piece of paper with a clue to go somewhere in the house. Once there, he would find another clue to go to another place. The last clue took him to where his present was hidden. Then we did the same to the other one. We did this every year since then and each year they, now grown adults, ask if there is going to be another scavenger hunt.

 I am in charge of creating these clues for the hunt and I use a simple poetic format for each one. Here is a sample taken from one of the sets of clues:

So there’s no need to grumble and shout, 

Nor to race and run to the place.

 Go take a chance,

 With more than a glance,

 To the cooker that slides in and out.

 The cooker is a drawer microwave. If you aren’t familiar with it, it is a microwave mounted in a drawer and slides out and in with a button on the front. I am up to putting seven clues in each set and create three or four sets each year. In addition to the two guys, we also include a girlfriend or wife in the game.

 Some people hunt for God the same way. They may go to one person who has a message, but not a complete one. So they go to someone else or to one church and another church and still another. Perhaps each stop points the way to the next, or it is frustration at not finding God yet. Finally, they receive the whole message and find God and his loving message. It may have been a minister, a priest, a rabbi, a friend, a church, or the bible. However they did it and not how long or difficult the search, they now have the ultimate prize, the ultimate gift, God’s love. God’s love was always there, as it is for all of us, but he or she had to find him and let him into their lives. 

How about you? Have you found God and are living in his love? Or, are you still searching, bouncing from one clue to another? Don’t quit! God is leading you down the path you need to walk. He is not going to give up or quit on you, so don’t you quit either. The ultimate prize is worth the struggle.