All Efforts to Locate You

When I don't know what to write about here I usually ask Ryan for help deciding what to write about; for an idea. He invariably responds, "Write about CHEESE." . . . or something along those lines. I asked him again today, and I fully intended to write about cheese if he had again said the same, but he said to write about the beach. So, dearest Ryan, I am not writing about cheese today.

So, the beach. I have hundreds of stories about the beach. One time we were down on the beach with our red and orange ocean kayaks and a floating island water toy. I believe there were more than just our immediate family there at the time as well.

The sun had set and we were pulling out of the water to leave. As we sat on the beach Dad realized he had lost his glasses. It was dark by this time and we could only see shapes of the things around us. We were the last people on the beach as we searched for the glasses on our hands and knees. I believe we finally found them, and we began to make our way to the top.

If you know anything about my family, you should know that this is no easy task. You already know that we had two ocean kayaks and an inflatable island. We also had bags and bags, chairs, towels, sand toys, inner tubes, and all the other "necessary" beach day items. So, the 8+ people and all our things trudged to the top of the dune and through the tunnel to the van.

We found a notice on the windshield. "All efforts to locate you failed," it said. It went on to inform us that the park had been locked because closing was at XX:XX (whatever time) and we were still in the park. Fair enough, right? I mean, you can't expect the park rangers to stay all night just because there is a van in the parking lot.

What got me, though, was that "all efforts to locate us had failed." How much effort had they made, I wonder? We were hardly invisible. If they had looked for us from the park side, without going through the tunnel, then no, they would not have seen us, but if they so much as stepped through the tunnel there was no way they would have  missed all the people, kayaks, toys, and other random beach paraphernalia.

It was impossible to miss us, really, but I've done they exact same thing. God is all around us, but we go about with the mentality that we can't find Him; that "all efforts to locate [Him] have failed." But what effort was made? If I look for Him--actually seek Him out--He is just as obvious as we were that day on the beach. No one could miss it.

You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:13 HCSB)