November 13 – “The Walking Stick”

We had some visitors in church yesterday.  Well, I guess that doesn’t tell you much, since a day without visitors would be the anomaly at Seaside.  But these fellows were from Oregon.  They were in Texas to do relief building work in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey on behalf of their Swedish Lutheran church.  And the three houses they had been working on all week?  Well, they were in Rosenberg, a community west of Houston.  How did they come to be at Seaside?  Well, they came to Galveston take a day off at the beach town, basically.  They knew nothing about it other than it was an island.  So how in the world did they come to find out about Seaside?  The internet.  Apparently our website won out over all the rest when they saw the line about wearing shorts and t-shirts. 

The visual verse for the day was Jeremiah 29:13 – You will seek me and find me, when you search for me with all your heart.  One of the Oregonians (They were impressed because I pronounced it correctly) approached me after church to tell me a story.  Seems his father and uncle both loved to hike on the trails in Oregon.  His father even led hiking tours.  Sadly, something came between them, and the uncle, who was an unbeliever, refused to talk to his brother for two years. 

On one of his hikes the uncle found a walking stick, an elaborately carved walking stick, in fact, obviously quite expensive.  He checked with all his sources and came up empty.  The only other course of action he knew of was to ask an actual trail guide to check with tour groups.  And the only trail guide for the area in question?  You guessed it … his estranged brother.  The uncle managed to get past whatever had kept them apart for two years.  He contacted his brother and the two of them worked together to find the cane’s owner. 

Now that would be a nice, Hallmark-y ending to the story.  But here’s the thing.  Number one, I don’t know if they ever found the owner of the cane or not.  He never said.  Why?  Because the actual “punchline” was so much better.  When the brothers got together to look at the cane and develop a lost and found ad, they noticed that the engraving on the cane included a Bible verse.  Jeremiah 29:13.  You will seek me and find me, when you search for me with all your heart.  And from the chuckle they shared at the irony on the stick, their relationship was healed.  Irony?  Ah … I prefer … the power of the word of God to heal and restore.  Beat that, Hallmark.

Jeremiah 29:13 says, “You will seek me and find me, when you search for me with all your heart.”

Father, thank you for the effort the guys from Oregon are expending here in Texas to help folks rebuild.  Honor their efforts and keep them safe as they return home.  Amen.