God Sees
A few weeks ago, my American teammate, Alicia, and I led a hike for the female student leaders. It was the best kind of hike because we started at the top and hiked to the bottom. 🙂 The theme for the day was “What God sees.”
From the top of Three Mile Hill, we overlooked the mountains, the patchwork of farmlands, the town of Mosgiel nestled in the valley, and the ocean beyond. “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters” (Psalm 24:1,2.) We started by reading this verse and parts of Job, and then discussed the big picture things that God sees and how He feels about His Creation.
Next, we hiked down into town and wandered through the streets of Mosgiel, comparing them to the streets of campus and the things that God sees–both good and bad—in each. We read Luke 19:41 and talked about why Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem and wondered what He might weep over in Dunedin. Finally, we walked straight to our house and went inside so they could see the personal aspects of my life, connecting that to the the things God sees and cares about in each of their personal lives. The women seemed to really love the hike and some still have a small note posted reminding themselves that God sees and cares about them.
The day was remarkable for me, too, because God demonstrated His care for the details of my life in a powerful way. The forecast for the day was dreary and wet. That morning, as I turned on the windshield wipers and the heater and drove to campus to pick up the women, I could see dark clouds piled up over the trailhead. Inspired by stories of other missionaries, I decided to pray for God to open the skies and give us a dry corridor for our hike, knowing that a clear view was essential to really communicate the message of “What God Sees.”
I prayed fervently in faith all the way to campus and by the time we returned with our car load, the sun was streaming down over the trail. It was gorgeous for the views and then clouded up when we reached town, as you can see in the photos. By then I was confident that God would hold the rain off until the whole program had ended. Sure enough, we were all snug indoors talking about how the Lord cares about the details of our lives when the drizzle began again. What a tremendous demonstration of the day’s lesson. Glory to God!!
intothewilderness.org 