Geocaching--Will You Be Found??

Yea! We found a cache!

Last week I had the time of my life!! My wonderful friend Nathan took me out for a few hours and introduced me to the wonderful world of geocaching.

Basically, geocaching goes like this: someone hides  container...anywhere. With their GPS they'll mark the co-ordinates several times. Once they get it right, they'll upload those co-ordinates and some hints to geocaching.com. Then, other geocachers will find those co-ordinates and hints, and download them into their GPS. These geocachers will then go out and find the cache, write in a logbook that they were there, and then hide the cache exactly where they found it.

Caches can be on the big side (see picture of me at left) or they can be very, very tiny and almost too hard to find!! Sometimes they can be buried under the ground, while others could be attached to tree branches in plain sight. And some are in the sneakiest of positions!!!

I had no clue that this rock was doubling as a cache!!

 Nathan showed me two caches that were very cleverly hidden. One was inside a fence post cap, and another was hidden underneath a rock! (See pictures.)

All in all it was a GRAND adventure!! Of course I loved hanging out with my friend, but also I really liked going new places and finding new things that I would've never known about except for our cache run!

This cache we almost couldn't find. It was buried deep
below the ground. But we didn't give up on looking.
God doesn't give up on you either!

I've been thinking about geocaching, and the parallel it has with our spiritual lives. The Bible is like our GPS. Just like the GPS told Nathan and I where to go to find the cache, so the Bible tells us where we need to go.

Sometimes it's hard to find what we're looking for. Sometimes we have to do some digging, like I had to in the picture at left. Nathan's told me that if you've found all the geocaches in a specific area, don't worry. There's some more bound to be hidden soon! That's the way it is with the Bible. No matter how many times we study and read the Bible, there's always something  new to learn each time we study and look!

Nathan showing me that fence caps aren't
always fence caps! ;)

Another correlation between geocaching and our spiritual lives. As I said previously, with God and his Word acting like our GPS, we get to go to new places and get to see new things that we wouldn't have if we weren't with Him!  For example, I would've NEVER looked in this fence post cap for a geocache!! Or for that matter, search around an almost-forgotten guard rail, or under a tree, or under a rock...!! If we let God be in control, let Him be our GPS, we'll have an experience far more exciting and satisfying than otherwise!


Finally, just as we try to find geocaches, God eagerly looks for us. We're like geocaches for Him! He wants to find us and have us believe on Him. He knows that this will bring eternal happiness for us. But He won't force us to come to Him. He provides ways for us to get to know Him, and then lets the decision rest with us.

Jeremiah 29:11:

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Psalms 34:4:

"I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears."

Will you let God find you and control you life?? You'll never regret your decision to be found by the Master Geocacher!!

Nathan with one of our caches that we found.