Today we went geo-caching.  We told Aspen we were treasure hunting.  You can imagine the excitement that created.  Just a small intro to geo- caching if you have never gone before.  First of all the man-of-the-house, in this case Brett, gets online and finds caches to go to.  After printing off the co-ordinates and other helpful information to find the caches, you hunt high and low throughout the house looking for the gps unit.  Upon discovering the unit everyone hops into the car to begin the adventure.  Then the lady-of-the-house reads off the co-ordinates while the man-of- the-house enters them into the gps unit.  All of this while the child-of-the- house excitedly bounces around making up songs about treasure hunting.  You also have to take some small treasures with you to replace the treasures you take from the cache. 

We drove to the first cache on our list.  It was close by and not too  hard to find.  Brett found the small round tin, but between the three of us we were unable to figure out how to open it.  Which was fine because the items we had brought with us, while small, were still far too big to fit in the small can.  Back in the car we entered the co-ordinates for the next cache.  This one also had a hint written in code which I went ahead and decoded.  The decoded message told us to go past the gate where we would find an ammo can hidden under a log covered with leaves.  Brett once again discovered the treasure.  Aspen had a hard time deciding which trinket she wanted from the box, but finally decided on a small white plastic horse. 

Once again we found ourselves in the car punching co-ordinates into the gps.  Rainsdrops began to fall as we drove around a trying to find the last cache.  We finally found the co-ordinates.  The place seemed unusual as it was someones personal property.  Brett parked in the driveway and stepped out of the car with  the gps to hunt down the cache.  While he was busy determining the where abouts of the treasure the residents of the home pulled up in the drive way behind us.  Brett talked with them and they told him they didn’t know of any geo-cache on their property.  It was a sad moment for Aspen, but we promised her more treasure hunts in the future.  She seemed to immediately forget her disappointment and excitedly looked forward to the next geo-caching trip.

The spiritual application of this story today:  Sometimes we decide we want this, that, or the other thing.  We make plans to get it or accomplish it someway.  We may add it to our prayer request list.  Sometimes we obtain our objective while other times we are unsuccessful.  A great text for Christians to keep in mind is Romans 8:28, “We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God-those whom He has called according to His plan.”  God has a plan, sometimes I think we should get just as excited about our plans that don’t happen as those that do!  Afterall, the text does say that “all things work together for good”.  All things, not just some things.  “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”  1 Thessalonians 5:18