Saturday 12 September 2009

Treasure Hunt - Oxted

TREASURE HUNT – Oxted Saturday 12th September 09


Pictures During Worship

Picture of many angels flying up and down the high street. Then I saw them flying over the park and various other places in Oxted. I had a sense that God was saying that he had sent the angels out before us.

1. 30 seconds after leaving the church office going up Amy Road towards the BIKE SHOP we saw a big guy leaning on his car just outside Sainsbury's waiting for the rest of his family to return to the car. He had been a PROP FORWARD and he had a KNEE PROBLEM and was standing on the KERB. This blew us away as the ink was only just dry from our having put these very clues on our list back in the church office. He was so obviously the treasure but said there was no point in praying and would not let us. His family arrived at that moment. Whilst he was taken aback and slightly defensive, he was pleasant. Once we had moved away we prayed for him anyway asking God to keep working on his heart and to keep reminding him that he had been identified as treasure.


2. We found another PROP FORWARD with a KNEE PROBLEM (shortly to be having an operation) this time also with a BLACK TEE SHIRT. He was happy for us to pray for him as he went (but he was carrying a bag of tools and clearly about to start a job).
There were an alarming number big, bald people (!) (including some with black tee shirts) in Oxted on Saturday and we talked to a good few of them - always pleasantly received; never once did people refuse to talk to us.


3. We found a BALD/SHAVEN HEADED guy in the BIKE SHOP with whom we ended up having quite a conversation about Christianity. He muttered that it was interesting that we had "struggling to get free of ADDICTIONS" on his list but was clearly not about to discuss why he thought that was interesting (and as there were quite a few people around it did not seem right to start talking about that there and then). He thought that he was being "more Christian" than a lot of people by going on a bike ride to raise several hundred pounds for a children's charity the next day. We asked for his email so we could sponsor him. We also told him about Alpha and invited him to the Alpha supper which he seemed interested in. We pray he will come. (Alex and Korbus who own the bike shop and are Christians were quite interested to see what was going on. I must explain treasure hunting to them sometime.)


4. Later in the day when sitting with my children on a sleepy train going towards London from Oxted with only two or three other people in the carriage I noticed a BALD guy who looked like a PROP FORWARD wearing a BLACK TEE SHIRT. He looked quite intimidating and I really didn’t want to talk to him - and surely the treasure hunt was over. But I couldn't stop thinking about whether he might be treasure so I did what I thought was a pretty safe deal with God. "OK God we are getting off at Riddlesdown. No one gets off at Riddlesdown on the London bound train. If he is treasure may he get off there too." Imagine my relief - and I confess a twinge of disappointment - when he stayed firmly rooted to his seat when we got up as we drew in to Riddlesdown. We were the only ones to get off. And then there he was. On the platform too! I still had my treasure map with me so told him what we had been up to that morning. He was delighted to talk and had a look at my list. He said he had been a PROP FORWARD at school and happened to have a bit of a BAD LEG. My courage failed me to pray for him there and then (and he was not in any obvious discomfort) and we were both going our separate ways but I did mention that we were having an Alpha event in Oxted and gave him an invitation. We blessed him on his way and again pray that he will come.



5. We saw a lady with a red top walk past Deep Blue fish and chip shop but couldn’t talk to her as we were the other side of the road. After crossing over and standing outside the fish and chip shop for a few moments the same lady came back carrying two bags for the charity shop nearby. She was struggling so I offered to carry the bags which she gratefully accepted. Whilst walking to the charity shop I explained that we were on a Treasure Hunt and she said that she had a bad back. I offered to pray for her back, which she agreed to, and then we walked back to the fish and chip shop where the rest of the team were and we prayed for her back. No immediate improvement but we were able to share some testimony with her and give her an invite to the Alpha supper and course.



6. Our first encounter was with two ladies standing at a bus stop, one was holding a walking stick and had an injured leg. The lady with the bad leg was very happy for us to pray for her when we assured her we weren't Jehovah Witnesses! We didn't have time to ask her if there was any improvement, because the bus arrived shortly afterward. As they were getting on the bus the other lady asked us to pray for her un-saved husband 'Jim'.




7. Dale had bike sale on his list and I had swings on my list so we headed off to the park where there was a bike sale. We had only just got to the park when I looked at the swing and saw a green top with white blobs on it which could be flowers but it was quite far away so I wasn’t sure. Dale said that Emma, Charleigh and I should talk to her. We were all a bit nervous because none of us had ever done the main bit of talking but we started walking to the swings and then I saw a pram in the back ground . This gave us a bit of confidence so we kept walking and just as we got to the gate which leads into the park we saw a party with balloons. When we finally got to the lady Emma said “hi we’re from Kings Church and we’re doing a treasure hunt and we think you are the treasure because you have a green flowery top and your by the swings does anything match with you on our lists?” So she looked at all of our lists and said no so we asked her if there was anything she would like us to pray about. She took a while thinking and then said that her friend has been trying to have a baby but couldn’t so could we pray for that. Then she said that she went to church in Camden and they did something the same at her church. So we said goodbye and walked back to Dale feeling thankful that our first person who we talked to on our own was a Christian and a really nice person.



8. At the beginning, I was worried about starting the treasure hunt because I hadn’t got many clues and everyone else had thirty more than me!! About half way through our time treasure hunting, we walked over to the older part of Oxted. We had the clues post box and bench, so we sat down on the bench by the post office. One of my clues was ‘long blonde hair’, so as we sat there, a lady with long blonde hair was about to walk past, Dale was asking me is that the right person and I didn’t know so I just left it and let her walk past though if she came back I said we should talk to her.

Funnily enough, she walked past again so Dale and I walked over and started talking to her. After introducing ourselves, we showed her our sheets and asked her if any of our clues had anything to do with her. I had ‘Ankle’ on my list and she said that she had broken her ankle and that it had nearly fully recovered but she can’t play football without it hurting. We carried on talking and we asked if there was anything she wanted praying for and she said that she had had lots of family problems earlier, and Dale had ‘uncertainty’ as one of his clues. She then went on to say that her dad had tried to commit suicide and is an alcoholic and that her step dad had had a heart attack which has all cleared up now but she is uncertain all the time in case it comes back. We then prayed for her and gave her an alpha leaflet. As we were about to leave, she mentioned that it was her birthday the next day and that she was thankful that she could enjoy it and not have to worry about her dad.



9. The main clued which attracted us was beard. The chap is called Graham. When I approached and showed him my list of clues he initially said no, nothing matches. Instead of then rushing away I remembered what Dale had once said about building a relationship with your contact, so I then just chatted to him, with Danni joining in. He then admitted that his wife of 48 years had recently died (I had lonely as prayer need on my list of clues, Danni had sadness ). He said that he used to go to church and that his wife sang in the choir at Limpsfield. He told us that he plays the cornet in the local brass band (Danni had musical instrument on her list). He seemed so ready and pleased to stand and chat. We gave him an invite to the Alpha launch and told him that the course would be held in Costa Coffee. He thanked us and as we parted we knew that it had been right to have a conversation with Graham that day.


Dale Barlow

Kings Church, Tandridge

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