The one about Geocaching

We have recently started geocaching and we are enjoying it. Geocaching is modern treasure hunting using GPS where you head to a set of coordinates and try to find the cache hidden at that location (find out more at www.geocaching.com).

Geocaches are small containers some of which just contain a log sheet you can sign to say you found it whilst others contain items that you can swap as well. Yesterday we found four caches and the hardest one to find was a magnetic container hidden near the top of a bus shelter.

Geocaching is a good family activity and in our latest expedition, Tracey and myself and three of our children aged 16, 9 and 5 searched together. I had to carry my daughter when she hurt her foot which made it hard going for a while (when did she get so heavy?), we had fun chatting along the way and we searched together covering more ground more quickly.

Tracey and the girls tried geocaching a few weeks ago but without GPS but they couldn’t find the cache. The GPS is essential because it takes you to the right place. Yesterday, because we knew the cache was in the bus stop we kept searching until we found it.

To find the cache you need to be prepared to look a little unusual. We must have looked very odd as we inspected and examined a bus shelter on a main road. If we had just been concerned with how we looked we might have given up but we were determined to find the cache and so we persevered.

Jesus said that “the Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field” (Matthew 13.44).

Knowing and following God as our King is a treasure that is worth more than everything else. I wonder if we see it that way? If we are Christians, do we really believe that our faith is worth more than everything else? If so, how does that show itself in the way we live?

The first Christians were known as followers of the Way but which way are we going? Where is our life GPS taking us? What treasure are we seeking? What are our priorities? What is our focus in life? What are we living for?

If we are seeking the Kingdom of God I hope that we remember that God has given us a family of fellow believers to travel with. As we journey together in our faith we can carry and encourage one another along the way.

I hope we will we persevere when the treasure of God’s Kingdom is hard to find or when the going gets tough? I hope we will realize that following Jesus is worth more than everything else and so we wouldn’t be distracted or put off by what others think.

My hope and prayer is that we would see more clearly how valuable Jesus is and that we would pursue him and his Kingdom with all that we have.

May our life GPS be programmed to seek first the Kingdom of God.