TREASURE HUNT 1 July 08

Well, how can I summarise God’s faithfulness in just one short testimony! It’s totally impossible to properly convey the lessons learnt in this single treasure hunt.

At first the thought of going on a treasure hunt filled me with dread. I was nervous about approaching people and them thinking I was a total nut. I was worried that my clues would be totally off track and wrong. I was worried that God wouldn’t speak to me. I was worried about everything, really!

After reading ‘The Treasure Hunt’ by Kevin Dedmon, I could see that a treasure hunt actually helped people feel that God saw them, cared for them and wanted to let them know that He has great plans for them.

I guess growing up in a Christian household caused me to witness many misguided ‘outreach’ programs that frequently did little else than prove to unbelievers that Christians were bible bashing freaks, so I was paranoid that I would be un-relatable and fall into the same category if I went out there.
I suppose we all have these fears, but what I’m beginning to realise is that God, more than anyone else, wants us to be relevant, relatable and to bring His gifts to those around us. It is precisely for this reason that we can be confident that He has a very clever plan for the ‘perfect meeting’ to convey His message to each person at the perfect time.

Back to the treasure hunt: We prayed briefly before we left and God gave me the following treasure hunt clues:
*Yellow, *movies, *crazy paving, *hat, *chewing gum, *nervous disorder / shaking, *Anna, and *a gift of Joy.
David V.B. also said to me before I left that my treasure “would be like a shining beacon and easy to spot”.

When we arrived at Knox I slowly walked to the movies where part of me hoped I wouldn’t find my treasure and part of me was excited that maybe I would.
Before I even entered the building a young girl was highlighted to me – like a shining beacon. She had bright yellow trousers on and was buying a movie ticket with her friend. I stood back and watched her for a while with other people in our group, but when they asked me if I had been drawn to anyone, I lied and said ‘no’. (Sorry God!) I was scared that they would make me approach her.
An internal argument was raging in my head between my fears (more likely my ego) and my spirit. One part of me was saying “Go, Jacqui – she is definitely the one!”, while another part of me was like a rabbit in the headlights wanting to run away but too stunned to.
Finally when the rest of the group wandered off to another area, I thought “It’s now or never” and I approached her. As I spoke with the young girl and her friend, I showed her the clues on my map to see whether any more of them related directly to her. Except for her name being Mina, instead of Anna, every single one of the clues were accurate: she was chewing gum, she had a hat in her hand, she obviously had a nervous condition and struggled with focus and balance, she was in a movie theatre entrance which had crazy paving on the floor, and she was wearing bright yellow trousers.
I explained that it appeared that she was the treasure I was sent to find, and she brightened. She declined my offer for prayer, but the gift of Joy at being noticed was already imparted.

I left the encounter totally exhilarated. God had done a great thing for Mina, but He had done a massive thing in me too. I knew now beyond a shadow of a doubt that God does talk to me. But instead of it being a loud thundering voice and a massively spiritual moment, it really is a still, small, easily missed flash of information that God pops into our heads. Sadly we miss it most of the time because we are so busy waiting for a Hollywood moment that our ‘soundtrack’ of rationalisation drowns out His voice. Maybe if we ‘mute’ our soundtrack more often, we would hear His!

Later on that evening, Andee Sellman felt the same girl being highlighted to him. He also spoke with her and let her know that God loved her and saw her. He had no idea that I had spoken with her already, but God wanted her to really get that ‘gift of Joy’ that He had earmarked for her to receive that night.

But wait, there’s more!

I had a nasty blocked ear from a cold and it had been bothering me all day. I flippantly asked one of the people on the team to pray for me and they did. Immediately my ear ‘popped’ and cleared. God really wants to bless and touch us every day in every thing we are facing. We just forget to ask most of the time!

Will I go on another treasure hunt? Yes! but hopefully not only on a night that we have an SEM assignment. My prayer is that I have the guts to treat my life every day as a treasure hunt for the one’s God is highlighting in my life.
I know that my fears will still be a challenge to overcome, but the excitement of finding God’s treasure is something I would love to experience every day.