When I was a kid I was a Boy Scout and believe it or not, I still remember a few things that I learned as a scout many years ago. One of those things is the Boy Scout motto, "Do a good turn daily." That is indeed a good motto to live by, regardless of whether or not one is a scout or what age one happens to be.

Today I want to talk for a few moments about observing good turns daily. However, I am thinking of someone else doing the good turns each day. And rather than our observing this motto by doing good turns I want to focus on you and I observing God doing good turns everyday. We are continuing a series of messages on dreaming, and one thing that may keep some people form doing so is that they miss God's involvement in the everyday.

God's presence can be observed in ordinary and not so ordinary ways everyday. Perhaps you remember the story of how one day Moses saw what he thought was an ordinary bush that was burning, but was not consumed by the fire. This got Moses' attention and as Moses came to the bush he heard God speak to him. He might have wondered what had happened to him on what would have otherwise have been an ordinary day. In the Psalm read this morning, David was praying, calling out to God for help. David realized that he needed to watch for God to answer. Jesus encourages us to pray too, to ask, to seek and to knock, knowing that our heavenly Father will give good gifts to those who ask Him.

I. Obstacles.

Obstacles are all around us that could keep us from observing the good turns God is indeed doing everyday, in ordinary and extraordinary ways.

One very common obstacle is the secularism of our society. While our coins say "In God We Trust" and faith in God was integral to the beginning of our nation our society is no longer Christian. Even some of those who are Christian have tried to compartmentalize their lives so that most of the week they live as though God does not exist, but on Sunday they gather to worship God. Occasionally we hear about new legislation being proposed that would further push God and the Bible out of people's ordinary everyday lives, at least in the work place. Talking about one's faith, having Bibles on desks and having posters or pictures hanging in the work place would be banned.

Often the spiritual dynamic of a news story will be ignored or minimized because in our society today it would not be politically correct. If secularism directs our thinking it may be very difficult to observe God doing good turns daily.

Another obstacle to seeing God in the everyday may be connected to the first I mentioned. The obstacle is that of being out of fellowship with God. If you have repented of your sin and accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you have begun a relationship with God. You were born again spiritually to become a child of God. How well are you getting along with God on a daily basis? Do you obey God's teachings? Do you read the Bible and talk to God everyday? Is your heart open to God? Do you take the time to nurture your relationship with God? Are you really in fellowship with God? If not, you can be, by overcoming the obstacles and opening yourself to the opportunities.

One of the spiritual disciplines I mentioned a couple of weeks ago a daily God Hunt. Several years ago we started doing this in our family and we still do it some. During this adventure I hope we begin to practice this discipline more faithfully again. I would like to ask you to consider doing so, too, at least for a few weeks. If you don't know what I'm talking about listen a few more minutes to let me explain these opportunities.

II. Opportunities.

I hope that you want to be open to see opportunities of God at work. Look for God in the ordinary and be open to the God of surprises. Pray, "God, I really want to observe your good turns everyday. I want to see what you are doing, get to know You better, and hear what you want me to do."

Develop your spiritual sensitivity. Karen Mains wrote of an experience she and her husband David had while they were traveling together. They were staying in a Motel in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Karen got up early to get some coffee. She was walking back to their room with a coffee cup in each hand. She turned the corner and looked down a typical long motel hallway. Suddenly she realized that she had forgotten their room number and she did not have the key. She started to panic a little bit and then said to herself, "Just relax for a minute, just be quiet; it will come to you." As she stood quietly in the hallway, she heard a man behind one of the doors blowing his nose. She recognized the sound of her husband.

Certainly, this is not a perfect analogy, but it illustrates the idea of getting to know a person over the years and being sensitive of their presence. We need to be open and sensitive to God, so that we can better observe God's activity and see God's hand in our lives and in the lives of others.

I would like to suggest four categories for God hunt sightings: An obvious answer to prayer, An unexpected evidence of God's care, Unusual linkage or timing, or any help to do God's work. Some sightings may seem to fit in more that one category. This is a fantastic opportunity we have, in spite of the obstacles, to observe God doing good turns daily.

Conclusion

Permit me to close with a few examples of God hunt sightings, extraordinary, and more ordinary.

Alan Finney was cruising along in the fast lane of a double lane highway with a big median. He looked in his rear view mirror and saw a white Lincoln Continental right behind him blinking his headlights to say "move over." He was kind of annoyed since there was no traffic in the right lane and wondered why the guy didn't just go around in the right lane. Reluctantly Alan eased over into the right lane. Alan said, "As I was easing over into the right lane, I was going up a hill, and when I reached the top of the hill just having moved into the right lane, an oncoming car driving the wrong direction on my side where I had been came past me so that the rush of wind shook my car. The immediate thought that I had was, "Oh no! The white Continental will be hit! I looked in my mirror, and the white Continental was gone. The oncoming car was still speeding down the road. I could never quite figure out what happened to that white Continental."

Some more simple sightings may be from my God hunt sightings a while back. Two that come to mind have to do with God's care, when Rachael and I could have been more seriously injured. Many years ago Rachael and I were horsing around and I feel on top of her. I was very relieved to know that I did not seriously injury her when I feel off my chair. Another has to do with minor injury I received last Thanksgiving morning when I slipped and fell on a hot wood burning stove. I thought I might have a severe gash on my face, possibly injured an eye and burned my hands. Gratefully, my injuries were not nearly as serious as they could have been. My friends, I encourage you to Observe God hunts daily.

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