No doubt, you have received a sweepstakes notice at some time from American Family Publishers. You know how it works. You look over their magazine bargains — and the chance to buy a few for your office or waiting room. In return, they give you the opportunity to win large amounts of money.

In 1997, their mailing list included the Bushnell Assembly of God in Bushnell, Florida. The computer somehow twisted the name of the church and a sweepstakes notice addressed to "God of Bushnell" was sent to the church address.

The letter read, "Dear God, We're searching for you. You've been positively identified as our $11,000,000 mystery millionaire!"

The letter went on to say, "What an incredible fortune there would be for God! Imagine the looks you'd get from neighbors. But don't just sit there, God, come forward now and claim your prize!"

Wouldn't it be wonderful if they truly were searching for God? If they sensed what Pascal called a "God-shaped void" in their lives and realized their need to come to know God and to understand what God could do for them? If they understood that the "prize" God offers is so much greater than the prize they were offering?

Dear God, We're searching for you.
The good news is that God is not hiding and that those who truly are searching for him can find him.

[The apostle Paul said to the Athenians] "From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 'For in him we live and move and have our being.'" (Acts 17:26-28a, NIV)

It is humorous that someone would be searching for God in order to give him 11 million dollars. He owns the "cattle on a thousand hills" (Psalm 50:10) and needs nothing. But, he has blessings beyond measure for those who would seek him out. May you be counted among those who "reach out for him and find him."