I. TRACKING
I love to camp and
hike. When I’m out tromping in the woods, one of the games I play
is tracking. I look for animal tracks, scat, and rubbings.
Sometimes when I find a track I’ll see how long I can follow it and
where it goes.
I’m no mountain
man, and I am not especially good at tracking. But tracking has
opened my eyes to the world in a new way.
For example, a
couple of years ago I was on an overnight retreat at a camp in the
Santa Cruz mountains.
During some
free-time I decided to go for a walk. As I walked, I thought to
myself “HMMM, maybe I can find some deer tracks out here.”
I passed a clearing
where there was some mud from the rains, and I knew this would be a
good place to look. Sure enough, I found a perfect, clear deer
print in the mud. I followed in the direction it led, out of the
mud and the clearing. A little further along I saw another faint
track. So I continued down a trail, about 25 yards into the
woods.
Of course, the deer that had
made the track saw me long before I saw him. In fact, I saw him
only when he crashed through some brush as he ran away from me. I
saw him circle around and run right past the lodge where we were
having our retreat.
I followed him, and
looked at the ground where he had run past the lodge. This was
higher ground, so it was dry. At first I didn’t see anything. No
tracks. Nothing.
But I knew tracks had
to be there. So I kept looking. Finally I noticed little
v-shaped cuts in the ground. At first I didn’t know what I was
looking at. Then I realized they were imprints of the very tips of
the split-hooves of the deer. Apparently, when they run over dry
ground only the sharp tips of the hooves disturb the ground enough
to leave a print.
So I learned something new.
The interesting thing, though, is that I didn’t see just a few of
these V-shaped prints. I saw hundreds of them. I saw layers and
layers of them, like many deer had run by that place hundreds of
times before.
When I stepped back and looked,
I realized I was looking at a deer run. A deer run is a path used
repeatedly by deer. Deer are just like people: they follow the same
paths over and over again because that is easier.
So here
was a deer run right next to the lodge. AND I HAD WALKED OVER IT 5
OR 6 TIMES THAT DAY WITHOUT SEEING IT. But now that I noticed it, I
could see it as clearly as I could see the road.
And
also, other deer runs that connected with it. In fact, there are 3
or 4 deer runs in the immediate vicinity of the lodge. In fact, the
whole retreat center is criss-crossed with deer highways!
So my
experience of the retreat center has changed. It is deeper and
richer than it was before. I had seen deer around there before.
But I’d never noticed the extent to which deer are present.
They’re not just occasional visitors. It’s their retreat center!
Deer are as much a part of that camp as the trails, the lodges and
the volley-ball court.
II.
GOD-TRACKING
So what does tracking
have to do with being a Christian?
Well, I want
to suggest that as Christians and as people of faith, we need to
learn to become God trackers. We need to open our eyes and learn to
look for the signs and footprints of God in the world all around us.
One of the
marvelous characteristics of the Bible is its insistence that God
comes to us here in this world, in our time, among the otherwise
ordinary events of our lives. The biblical God is not an
abstraction, not a faraway deity. The Bible, in fact, is one story
after another of how God makes tracks through the lives of His
people.
Abraham met God
when three visitors came to visit him, and he served them up a meal.
Moses met God in a
burning bush out in the wilderness.
Daniel was by the
Tigris River when he had a vision of a glorious angel
And, of course, in
the New Testament God reveals himself to us in Jesus.
You might say Jesus
taught God-tracking. Throughout his ministry, he tried to get
people to see God and the world in a new way: “You have heard
that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I
tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”
(Matthew 5:43)
In his
miracles Jesus would have us look at the natural world in a new
way.
In his acts
of mercy he would have us look at the poor and sick in a new way.
In his
confrontations with the priests and Pharisees, he would have us look
at our religious preconceptions in a new way.
II.
CONCLUSION
I’m not a great tracker, but I’m getting better. Skill comes with
practice. There is effort involved in all good things.
If I want to
be a better tracker, I need to study animal signs and tracks so I’ll
recognize them. Then I need to go out and practice looking for
them.
It’s the same
with God tracking. In the spiritual world, if we want to see God
more often, we need to practice looking for God’s signs. We need to
pray to open our hearts to see Him. And we need to look closely at
our daily lives to notice His presence.
He’s there.
Everywhere. Remember, I had walked over that deer run many times
before I actually saw it. God is like that, too.
I once read about a man who found a
$10 bill on the sidewalk. From that day on he kept his eyes
fastened on the ground looking for money. And, in fact, over the
course of 10 years he actually did find money. He found about 20
one-dollar bills, a few five-dollar bills, and countless pennies,
dimes and quarters.
But you know
what? Along the way he missed 3,650 sunrises and sunsets. He
missed many lovers holding hands as they walked along together. He
missed the look on a mother’s face as she held her baby. He never
helped anyone who might have needed a hand along the way. He missed
happy children at play, and many other experiences of joy and
glory. He missed God.
Don’t be like that
man. Become a God-tracker. Open your eyes to the nearness and
glory of God all around us.
