Seeking

elkinfog
Originally uploaded by Aunt Owwee

My brother Gary and I like to get up early and hunt for elk. The elk range is about 45 minutes from his home. We get up before dawn and travel winding, bumpy roads back to the Pigeon River area. We have our favorite roads. Remember when? and wasn't that cool? are part of the conversation, as well as important pieces of sharing lives that only work in the quiet bits of a darkened morning.

Searching for elk can be frustrating. There are a lot of deer in the area, and they are always first to appear. We go long enough without seeing an elk, and we start playing the "maybe that's one" game when we see a larger than average deer.

And then they appear. Even through the fog, there is no denying the large animals. They have a presence. They are exactly elks.

Sometimes I think searching for elk is a metaphor for searching for God, the great I AM. Whether we find God or not does not change God's existence.