Treasure Hunt 7-23-09

I had the privilege of leading a Treasure Hunt team last night at the Hem of His Garment conference. One guy was from South Africa, and the other 3-4 were from Arkansas. It was awesome. We had several encounters with people where they matched the descriptions on our treasure maps and we were able to bless and encourage them, pray for their needs, etc.. but I just wanted to share one of the cooler ones.

Keep in mind, none of these people on the team know anything about Redding. Their location clues were “coffee shop” (2 people had this clue), “Starbucks” (2 people had this clue), “ice cream shop” (2 people had this clue too!), “outdoor eating area”, “fountain”, “parking lot” and “Sears”. All of these clues are literally within a fifty foot stretch at ONE place in Redding (except Sears, which is directly across the street). Thankfully, I am familiar enough with Redding to have put their clues together to find the spot…

So, we got there and the physical appearance clues were “Green shirt” and “pink shirt”. As soon as we got out of the vehicle, this group of maybe 7 teenagers was in front of us in the “parking lot”… one had the green shirt, and one had the pink shirt. Three of us approached them, explained the Treasure Hunt, and showed them the clues that led us to them. We asked if any of them had any pain in their bodies or needed prayer for anything, and one guy said his wrist had gotten injured in a fight, so we showed him "wrist pain" on our map.

Just then these bells (like a bell tower) started ringing out a song, the “Hallelujah” Chorus. The girl in our group had written the word “Hallelujah” in her Unusual category, and didn’t know what it meant—but now we all did. As the bells rang the song, we shared this additional clue with the kids. That was kind of like TOO MUCH, Lord!!! So we asked the other kids if they had ever seen Jesus do a miracle… They said “No”, we said “Watch”, and Jesus healed his wrist right then and there.

They were obviously shocked, then the guy was kind of like freaked out… With all the other guys trying to be all cool and whatnot, they kind of shut down from going much further with them, but we did get to share God’s love for them and bless them, and they had an encounter with the Lord that God will use it to bump them one notch closer to their eternal salvation! Bless the Lord!!

Treasure Hunt and Healing 7-4-09

Went to the fireworks in Redding tonight with my kids. Before we left, I asked the Lord who He wanted to bless tonight. He showed me a picture of a “guy, 18-23, black and white ballcap, black and white T-shirt, gray shorts, Dickies (brand)” so I wrote that down on my treasure map.

We found the guy about 15 minutes after we got there.. He came walking up to us with his friends--WAY out of the way of the fireworks crowd—in a quiet corner where I was making some phone calls. It was dark already and I wanted to be sure first, so I asked him, "Hey bro, what color are your shorts?" He said they were gray, and I asked, "Is that a Dickies label?", and he said yes. I asked how old he was and he said he was 18.

I had him read the map and once he was going, “What the heck is going on?” I explained that God loved him very much and wanted to encourage and bless him. I asked if he needed prayer for anything, and he said he was looking for a job. I prayed for him briefly and encouraged him that God really does love him in a special way and has a destiny for his life, and was leading him there step by step. He was blessed and encouraged and said that this was all pretty crazy and he wasn’t sure about it, but thanks a lot!

My kids and I walked away and within 5 minutes, we ran into a Christian guy named John that I know from my last job. He was riding a skateboard, and had a brace on his wrist. I found out that he had hurt it a day or two before skateboarding. I asked him what he couldn’t do with it, and he showed me that he could barely even move it. I asked if I could pray, he said yes, and I prayed maybe a 15-second prayer while laying my hand on his wrist. I told him to test it out and he tried. Then he was like, “Wait, I have to take the brace off.” He moved it around completely and looked shocked. I said, “Does it still hurt?” He said, “NOT A BIT!!” I was like “Yeah Jesus!!” He was like, “That’s AMAZING!” He put the brace in his pocket and walked away free! Happy Fourth of July… Thank you JESUS!!

Oh yeah, the fireworks were cool too.