Another Look

The voice of the interviewee began to ramp up in intensity as he described the details of his adventure. He and his teammate were talking about their lifelong vocation and calling—they were rock hunters. Before you shrug this off as a quirky fancy that’s only for a select group, let me tell you that these rocks are some of the rarest on the planet. In fact, they’re not even from this world. Mike Farmer and Robert Ward were meteorite hunters. I’ve had the privilege of seeing the constellations out for several recent nights and the thought that these guys chase down rocks that come from the stars got my heart racing. They enthusiastically described traveling the globe to scrounge up these priceless space metals that scientists were vying to study. And they talked about their close calls with the black-market chain who were also trying to illegially bag these relics before they could. But one part of their story caught my attention. They said that their favorite spot to collect meteorites was in the desert of Oman on the northeastern tip of the Arabian Peninsula. They especially sought out this locale not because it looked remarkable or had a unique attraction for space rocks. They routinely visited it because the dark brown of the landscape made the white sheen of the meteorite fragments stand out much more easily. The color of the ground gave them that extra edge that they needed to spot meteorite chunks while they were scouting the area from the air. It allowed them to hone in on the treasure. These words got me thinking about what our lives are focused on. Sometimes an ounce of razor-sharp focus can pay huge dividends in more effective work, ministry and living. When we are especially attentive to the words of Scripture, not just dryly reciting them but mining them deeply and focusing our lives around them, the purposefulness of our lives looms large. Our focus on the big picture of what God is accomplishing gives us a joy and momentum that is contagious. Hebrews 12:1, 2 says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” And just as the landscape that the meteorite hunters studied greatly helped their focus, the things we choose to study, look at, ponder, listen to, and share will tell greatly in how we follow Christ’s mission. Let’s focus our eyes on Jesus!