Jesus – Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. (Matt 7:7)

Bono – I have run, I have crawled
I have scaled these city walls
These city walls
Only to be with you
But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.

In this walk with God, what you look for you rarely find

My year 2017 hasn’t turned out as I planned it. Neither did a recent journey over the Christmas holidays.
I travelled a long distance to help the homeless of Cork City. I felt the call amid the hustle & bustle of our ‘materialistic’ Christmas season and the happy expectation of buying a house for myself. I felt God nudging me to give a bit more in this area. I was looking for something too though…I was looking for a more ‘meaningful’ Christmas. I wanted Santa to give me the feeling that I’d done something righteous however much I tried to convince myself it was done solely out of a desire to serve out of love.
I walked an area of the city by the river with three other people (fellow travellers, seekers, helpers) we found not one single homeless person. The mission as a whole was a success. I had helped unload a truckload of donated supplies that had been collected for the local night shelter. Homeless people had been helped by others and two people got off the streets and into b&b accommodation for the Christmas period. I had met new people and made new contacts. I personally had not encountered and helped a single homeless person. I had to confess I was disappointed. On the long drive back I asked the Lord what was all that about, what was that for, why did you prompt me to go?
In the stillness of my subsequent prayer time I heard the words of scripture ‘ephphatha…be opened’ when Jesus healed the deaf & dumb man in Mark 7. This Christmas journey was a microcosm of my year…it’s meaning will unravel in due course…I need to keep on travelling. That which animates me on the journey is the knowledge that I am the one who has been sought & found by my maker and redeemer.
Yes seek and you shall find…but you still won’t find what you’re looking for…you‘ll find what God wants you to discover. ‘Behold I make all things new’ ( rev. 21:5 )

Be open to it.