by Dr. Jay Richard Akkerman
Aidan Clarke recounts a story about a boy in New York City who once lost his dog. While many of us would be tempted to rush wildly through our neighborhoods in search of a missing pet, this boy chose a different strategy.
Instead, he progressed systematically up and down every block near his home. As he plodded one step at a time, one of the boy’s friends sounded off to him saying, “But you’re not even looking for your dog!”
The boy replied, “I’m not. I’m letting him find me. Before long, he’ll find the trail I’m putting down, then he’ll follow it all the way back home.”
In the gospels, Jesus never seems to panic about where to find those in need. Could it be that by the ways Jesus lived in harmony with his Father’s will, and in close proximity to sinners, he simply “set down a trail” they tracked until finally encountering the one they’d been seeking all along?
In Jeremiah 29:13-14a, the Lord challenges Judah to focused seeking: “When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find me…”
Could it be that as we keep in step with the Spirit and live prayerfully in our neighborhoods, we’re actually setting down a trail that God can use to draw others to find and follow Jesus?
May God’s prevenient grace enliven your invisible prayers to draw others, both inside and outside your home, to the one they’ve been seeking all along.
