Mike, initially, I liked the analogy. However, after thinking about it, I just don’t think God would camoflauge Himself to test my commitment (or lack thereof) to Him. He already knows my heart and all my weaknesses. On the other hand, we could replace the worldly “illusions” with “churchy things” and still miss God sitting in the folding chair, thus the saying being so heavenly minded that we’re of no earthly good. Remember, though, I’m not as deep a thinker as you and Mark. I’ve probably missed the whole point (as usual).
It all sounds cute as described by the author, unfortunately more often than not the dude in the chair is hiding behind disease, poverty, despair, genocide, war, abuse, etc. and worse yet the open field is seeded with landmines, protected by sniper fire and air support or the border patrol. Perhaps these are all illusions as well…but what does that say about the dude. Some jokes just aint funny.
While I don’t believe that God intentionally hides from us, perhaps we do hide God…
In the chaos and clutter of our worldly lives, is it possible that God, whether sitting in a folding chair waiting on us, or singing and dancing and pointing to the Kingdom, gets overlooked? I find that often I have to work at seeking out God, yet when I do, I don’t have far at all to look. It is a matter of focusing on the Divine in the midst of the worldly, at times seemingly lost in a maze of our own making, yet always there wherever we are. Isn’t this the struggle we face as we take on the challenge to live in the world but not of the world?
so here we are in the field... 
Mike, initially, I liked the analogy. However, after thinking about it, I just don’t think God would camoflauge Himself to test my commitment (or lack thereof) to Him. He already knows my heart and all my weaknesses. On the other hand, we could replace the worldly “illusions” with “churchy things” and still miss God sitting in the folding chair, thus the saying being so heavenly minded that we’re of no earthly good. Remember, though, I’m not as deep a thinker as you and Mark. I’ve probably missed the whole point (as usual).
It all sounds cute as described by the author, unfortunately more often than not the dude in the chair is hiding behind disease, poverty, despair, genocide, war, abuse, etc. and worse yet the open field is seeded with landmines, protected by sniper fire and air support or the border patrol. Perhaps these are all illusions as well…but what does that say about the dude. Some jokes just aint funny.
While I don’t believe that God intentionally hides from us, perhaps we do hide God…
In the chaos and clutter of our worldly lives, is it possible that God, whether sitting in a folding chair waiting on us, or singing and dancing and pointing to the Kingdom, gets overlooked? I find that often I have to work at seeking out God, yet when I do, I don’t have far at all to look. It is a matter of focusing on the Divine in the midst of the worldly, at times seemingly lost in a maze of our own making, yet always there wherever we are. Isn’t this the struggle we face as we take on the challenge to live in the world but not of the world?