So, I seriously hope that none of you will be mad at me for saying so, but I am a deer hunter. Mostly I sit in the tree stand and enjoy being outside in the quiet peace of the woods. If a deer happens to come along, well we won't talk about that part right now, but I love this time of year for the hunting.

The other day, it had been raining all day, but was just barely spitting when I got home, so I donned my camo and headed over the hill to the stand. I came over the ridge looking down onto Wildcat Creek and slipped/skidded my way down the hill to where the 4 or 5 deer paths converge and where my stand sits this time of year. To my shock and then anger, my stand was gone! I looked all around and did not find it anywhere. I then proceeded to be stupid and walked several hundred yards into the woods, down the paths, thinking maybe i would find my stand (or the chump who took it!). I found neither and no deer - not that they couldn't hear me coming a mile off, in my angered state of mind.

Now, understand, I do hunt with permission on someone else's land, but there has not been any recall of his permission to my knowledge. I fumed - seriously I think my head might have been steaming off the rain that was falling on it. Yet, not to be turned away, I was determined to hunt that night and so I perched myself on a downed log and sat for a while. Needless to say no animals approached - probably because they could smell my anger - and so eventually I got up and began walking home. I trudged up the hill to the clearing behind my house, hoping to see some grazing deer there, looked left, toward my house as I entered it, and there was my stand, laying on the ground. I was stunned. I was not sure whether someone had left it there for me, knowing that i was the hunter and not wanting it left on the tree, or if they left it there to come back for it another time, but nevertheless, it was mine and it was found.

Needless to say, I was relieved to have my stand and after dragging my soggy self back inside and settling down a little (I was still mad that someone would take it) I had some time to think about the whole thing.

I was mad about the stand because it was not where I thought it should be. I looked in a million places and i just could not seem to find it. I got angrier and angrier the longer i looked because I knew where the stand was supposed to be and it wasn't there! Truth is, it was actually up on the hill. Somewhere completely unexpected and unforeseen. It was not running from me - it was just sitting there, in the rain, waiting to be picked up.

Many times this is how life is. We are just absolutely convinced that the thing we want is right over here, at the bottom of the hill. Then, when we get there we find that it is not there at all and so we go searching - we search and we search and we search for anything that we think may be able to satisfy us, but we are just not able to find it. Then, in our desperation, we look somewhere where we would never have thought to find something wonderful and there it is - waiting as if we would never get there. This is how it is often with God. We think we know where He is - but sometimes we need to think differently when the missing things in our life are not where we though they would be.

Now, i don't want you to misunderstand, God is not just sitting there like my stand. He is sculpting the moments to guide you to the top of the hill where He is. He wants you to find Him - but most of the time we are so preoccupied with our searching where we think life should be that we forget to look for Him.

Maybe you are reading this because you are heading up the hill - maybe this is a chance for you to change your focus - to modify your search.

If so, we hope you will join us Thursday night, 6:45-8:00 PM at McAllister Center, just off 20th and Schuyler Ave, we will all be heading to the top of the hill, together.

By the way - here are the dates for the rest of the year - there are some changes to the usual every other Thursdays because of holidays and vacations

These are the following dates we will meet at McAllister:(PLEASE note them on your calendar)

Thursday October 15
Thursday November 5th
Thursday November 19th
Thursday December 10th
Thursday December 17th
Thursday January 7th

thanks and we'll look forward to seeing you!