Going on a God Hunt. What we’re doing is learning how to look for evidences of God making his presence known in our everyday worlds. Specifically, we’re exploring evidence of God giving us help to do His work in this world.
Even children can understand what it is I’m writing to you about. Most kids are great helpers. They’re not bad prayers either.
In Chapter 3 of the book, “I Spy God,” Loser, Joey, and Jimmy are out looking for little lost Sus. Loser prays and asks for God’s help. And he gets it! Loser has a sighting that I’d put in the “help to do God’s work in the world“ category:
“Su-us!”
“Sus-ann-ah!”
“Su-us! Where are you?”
You’ve gotta have a strategy if you’re gonna find things, thought Loser. Where was Muffy? Muffy could swim. He wouldn’t just let Sus fall into the river.
Unless he had drowned, too.
The voices kept calling from the riverside—men’s and women’s voices. “Sus-ann-ah! Where are you?”
Maybe if he went back to the last place where he had seen his sister earlier that morning—maybe if he went upriver to the shack, he would find some clues, some footprints in the soft mud around the shack, or something.
Loser ducked his head and began to run. He thought of Susannah’s dragging feet. He thought of her reddish-brown hair in the sunlight. He thought of how she found things for him when he lost them. He thought of her calling, “I know where it ish!”
Had Susannah really thought that he was somewhere else? She was a little girl, but she was a smart little girl. Didn’t she realize that if Schmidt and Schwartz were in the shack, he would be in the shack, too?
Breathless, Loser reached the tumbledown cabin. Sure enough, there were little footprints in the mud around the door. Paw prints, too. Loser went inside and looked out of the crack through which he had last seen Susannah. It would be good strategy to get inside her brain. If he were Susannah, what would he do if he suspected his brother was hiding in the shack?
Get out of sight, then circle back, creep up behind the shack, and listen to hear who was really inside.
Loser tore out of the door ran around the side of the shack, and slipped down the bank. The escape hole! There was a crawl space beneath the cabin with an inside trap door in the floor of the shack, underneath the metal cot. This was an exit to the crawl space in case of enemy attack. It locked from the inside of the cabin. There was another outside door on the river side of the shack, but it latched on the outside, and the boys had fixed a catch that slipped into place when the door banged shut.
Maybe Sus had found the outside door to the escape hole and crawled inside. Maybe the catch latch had slammed behind her, trapping her under the cabin.
“Sus … Susannah?” Loser whispered. He could hardly bear to call her name. What if she were not inside? What if her body were bobbing in the river? His heart was beating in time with the toll of the river bell. Oh, please, he prayed. Please let her be in here. Don’t let her be drowned.
That seems like a good place to stop for today. I will let you ponder Sus’ fate over the weekend. Just remember that God is always at work in our daily lives. We become better followers of Jesus when we learn to recognize His Hand. I’ll plan to resume the story on Monday and hope that you’ll be here, too.
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Sunday’s coming. Do you have your sermon ready? Is it relevant? Will it effectively motivate your congregation to walk more in step with the Master? What about that Sermon Series you’ve been thinking about?
Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?
David Mains and Mainstay Ministries can help. We offer a wide variety of Sermon Starters and Full Sermons that will give you Sermon Ideas to help you prepare for regular Saturday or Sunday sermons, Mid-week Bible Sermons, and Sermons for special occasions.
We also offer assistance as you create Topical Sermons, Sermons Series, and sermons for special times of the year. We have resources available to help you with Advent Celebrations, Advent Sermons, Christmas Sermons, Easter Sunday Sermons, Patriotic Sermons, and more.
For more information on how to create better Bible Sermons and how to turn Sermon Ideas into Sermon Outlines, and then into effective, meaningful Sunday Sermons, please click here to visit David Mains’ website.
You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.
