Treasure Hunting
Inspired by this book:
I went with a group of friends tonight on a treasure hunt that was unlike any other...It was one led by God! It was not a mission to get people to come to church or to preach at anyone or to talk theology. No info cards or mention of church was allowed. It was simply about finding people that God wanted to bless.
We took 10 minutes to quiet ourselves and listen for God's voice to tell us, individually, clues that could lead to someone He had prepared for an encounter with Him. Taking longer than a few minutes gives you too much time to overthink things. The object is to write down what you get without editing. Clues generally fall into one of 5 categories: Location, a person's name, a person's appearance, what they may need prayer for and The Unusual.
Next we broke into teams of 3-4 and drove to our chosen destination. Tonight it was a small plaza nearby.
My team was Denise, Kevin and Carol and myself.
Clues that appeared on our respective treasure maps included things like:
Cassandra
Jennifer
Blue shoes
Pencil in hair
White sweater
Pink baby hat
baby carriage
Purple
forlorn
catastrophe
dentist
Cocoa puffs
Poptarts
Minestrone soup
Clipboard
Intersection
Stop light
wheelchair
These are general clues and are meant to be used as general directions. The point isn't to match clues exactly (though that will blow you away!) but to find who God is looking to bless...One of our friends who has done this before had 'cracker' on her list and it turned out that the person who was the treasure called everyone 'cracker' :)
We decided since there were obvious grocery items that we would go into Kroger (we also had a Walmart and Petsmart to choose from). I actually needed some groceries so we had a 'cover' to blend in as we walked around the store looking for God's treasure. :) Almost immediately we spotted a family who had a baby in a pumpkin seat (baby carriage). Denise stopped to coo at the baby and saw that she had on a pink jacket with a pink hood (pink baby hat). She came back to us and we were sure this was one of the treaures. After freaking out for a moment and stopping to gather our composure we tracked down this family again. Kevin and I approached and explained what we were doing and showed them our treasure map. They said "sure...you can bless us if you want". So we did. :)
Next we went to the cereal aisle because of the cereal aisle clues. Just after we entered the aisle, so did a woman wearing a pink bandana, pushing a young girl who was wearing a purple jacket. She walked past us at the Poptarts and then stopped just beyond the cocoa puffs to look at the other cereals. We were amazed! We got talking to her. And asked if any of the other clues on our map applied to her in any way. It turned out that her daughter had just been to the dentist and had her two front teeth pulled. We prayed blessings for them too. And the lady teared up a little bit as we prayed and thanked us for stopping to talk to her.
Moving right along, we saw a lady in a light colored sweater riding on one of those motorized grocery carts (wheelchair). She was down at the other end of the aisle at the intersection of two aisles. We were planning to get to her but on our way we saw a Kroger employee who had a pen tucked behind his ear (pencil in hair). He was also carrying an electronic device that stores information which we stretched to say was our "clipboard" clue (lol!). He wanted prayer for his friend who had just been laid off.
While I ran out to the car to get money for my groceries, Carol asked at the front desk if there was anyone who worked there named Jennifer because that name was really heavy on her heart. There was a Jennifer but she was not working tonight. But the manager said Jennifer would be very excited to know there was a prayer team looking for her and promised to tell her about it. She also asked us to check out in aisle 2 where the cashier needed prayer. Her name was Nicole. Her co-worker came over while we were talking to her. And her name was Saundra. I asked if her first name was Cassandra but it wasn't. Close enough though!
Ranchwhile, back at the mean, the other half of our group had less clues actually match up but they had an opportunity to pray for a woman who had an injured leg. They also spoke with a couple of people who had matching clues (white hat, pencil in hair and orange shirt/bright colored/blue shoes) but those folks didn't think that the clues really meant them. But they appreciated the thought. :)
All in all it was an awesome night! And we all want to do it again now that we feel more comfortable and encouraged.
Who else is up for a Treasure Hunt??!
I went with a group of friends tonight on a treasure hunt that was unlike any other...It was one led by God! It was not a mission to get people to come to church or to preach at anyone or to talk theology. No info cards or mention of church was allowed. It was simply about finding people that God wanted to bless.
Ingredients for successful Treasure Hunting:
A creative, fun-loving God...
A creative, fun-loving God...
A group of people willing to risk looking foolish (Being a bit off-kilter helps, too!)
A list of clues provided by God (he is always talking to us!):
And a destination:
Before going out we met at the House of Horgan where Kevin put on his thinking cap...
(Oh, wait...That was a different night...)
Back to tonight...
We took 10 minutes to quiet ourselves and listen for God's voice to tell us, individually, clues that could lead to someone He had prepared for an encounter with Him. Taking longer than a few minutes gives you too much time to overthink things. The object is to write down what you get without editing. Clues generally fall into one of 5 categories: Location, a person's name, a person's appearance, what they may need prayer for and The Unusual.
Next we broke into teams of 3-4 and drove to our chosen destination. Tonight it was a small plaza nearby.
My team was Denise, Kevin and Carol and myself.
Clues that appeared on our respective treasure maps included things like:
Cassandra
Jennifer
Blue shoes
Pencil in hair
White sweater
Pink baby hat
baby carriage
Purple
forlorn
catastrophe
dentist
Cocoa puffs
Poptarts
Minestrone soup
Clipboard
Intersection
Stop light
wheelchair
These are general clues and are meant to be used as general directions. The point isn't to match clues exactly (though that will blow you away!) but to find who God is looking to bless...One of our friends who has done this before had 'cracker' on her list and it turned out that the person who was the treasure called everyone 'cracker' :)
We decided since there were obvious grocery items that we would go into Kroger (we also had a Walmart and Petsmart to choose from). I actually needed some groceries so we had a 'cover' to blend in as we walked around the store looking for God's treasure. :) Almost immediately we spotted a family who had a baby in a pumpkin seat (baby carriage). Denise stopped to coo at the baby and saw that she had on a pink jacket with a pink hood (pink baby hat). She came back to us and we were sure this was one of the treaures. After freaking out for a moment and stopping to gather our composure we tracked down this family again. Kevin and I approached and explained what we were doing and showed them our treasure map. They said "sure...you can bless us if you want". So we did. :)
Next we went to the cereal aisle because of the cereal aisle clues. Just after we entered the aisle, so did a woman wearing a pink bandana, pushing a young girl who was wearing a purple jacket. She walked past us at the Poptarts and then stopped just beyond the cocoa puffs to look at the other cereals. We were amazed! We got talking to her. And asked if any of the other clues on our map applied to her in any way. It turned out that her daughter had just been to the dentist and had her two front teeth pulled. We prayed blessings for them too. And the lady teared up a little bit as we prayed and thanked us for stopping to talk to her.
Moving right along, we saw a lady in a light colored sweater riding on one of those motorized grocery carts (wheelchair). She was down at the other end of the aisle at the intersection of two aisles. We were planning to get to her but on our way we saw a Kroger employee who had a pen tucked behind his ear (pencil in hair). He was also carrying an electronic device that stores information which we stretched to say was our "clipboard" clue (lol!). He wanted prayer for his friend who had just been laid off.
While I ran out to the car to get money for my groceries, Carol asked at the front desk if there was anyone who worked there named Jennifer because that name was really heavy on her heart. There was a Jennifer but she was not working tonight. But the manager said Jennifer would be very excited to know there was a prayer team looking for her and promised to tell her about it. She also asked us to check out in aisle 2 where the cashier needed prayer. Her name was Nicole. Her co-worker came over while we were talking to her. And her name was Saundra. I asked if her first name was Cassandra but it wasn't. Close enough though!
Ranchwhile, back at the mean, the other half of our group had less clues actually match up but they had an opportunity to pray for a woman who had an injured leg. They also spoke with a couple of people who had matching clues (white hat, pencil in hair and orange shirt/bright colored/blue shoes) but those folks didn't think that the clues really meant them. But they appreciated the thought. :)
All in all it was an awesome night! And we all want to do it again now that we feel more comfortable and encouraged.
Who else is up for a Treasure Hunt??!
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