Hidden Treasures

Editor’s Note: After a recent geocaching adventure, missioner Patrick Montine reflects on how placing God at the center of our lives compels us to persevere and find the treasure in any given situation.

Recently, my fellow missioner Brandon and I went on a geocaching adventure. For those who don’t know, geocaching is a kind of scavenger hunt. You use GPS coordinates to locate a “cache” which is usually just a waterproof container.

The container usually contains some way to document that you were there by paper or by phone. When you find the cache, you make a note of your name and where you found the cache.

The one we were looking for was hidden in an old film canister, so it was our mission to find the film canister and write down our names and when we found it. So one Saturday morning, we took Marley the dog and trekked out into the bush.

We headed toward Little Bay, the area where the map said the cache would be. We started walking down the beach with the dog. However, we quickly ran into a problem. There were a lot of cows just walking around, and Marley started freaking out because she had never seen a cow before. She started to bark at them, and we really had to keep an eye on her.

We continued to walk down the beach toward a site that looked like it fit the description of some trees near a freshwater spring. Once we arrived, we started looking for the cache.

Trees, rocks, and a hidden cache?

In the area around the trees, there were rocks that had many holes in them.  We looked up and down for anything that looked like a film canister, but we couldn’t find anything. I am sad to say that we didn’t find the canister that day.

That is life. Sometimes we don’t find what we are looking for. We hold back and we wait, or we can’t get past the obstacles in the journey, like the cows on the beach. In my case that day,  I didn’t stick my hand in one of the holes in the rocks because I didn’t know what would be  inside.

This is the same in life too. Sometimes, this  fear holds us back. Luckily, with God’s love and reflection, we are able to push through the fear and pull out the treasure we are searching for.

Reflection Question: What obstacles are preventing you from placing your full trust in God?