Scavenger Hunt, Big Bang Style

There is something thrilling about scavenger hunts.  Working with a partner or a team to decipher clues that lead you to your next clue and then the next until you finally make it to the prize is exhilarating, and sometimes frustrating (depending on your team or the quality of the clues).   When I was a little girl, my parents switched from hiding Easter eggs to hiding the Easter basket with clues.  I loved it so much more, because there was a feeling of achievement when I solved each clue, and the sense of victory when I finally held that Easter basket in my hands was overwhelming.  

With this in mind, you can imagine how much I laughed when The Big Bang Theory dedicated an entire episode to a scavenger hunt amongst the primary characters.  For those of you who might not be familiar with The Big Bang Theory, it’s a television sitcom in the United States based on the lives and relationships of 4 physicists and their wannabe actress neighbor.   The primary characters are: Sheldon, a genius with little to no social skills; Leonard, your average nerd who is always trying to fit in with “normal” people; Howard, the scientist who “only” has a Masters degree, lives with his mother, and is a little creepy; Raj, the physicist from India who is the self-described metro-sexual who longs for a relationship with a woman, but is scared to talk to them unless he’s drunk; and Penny, the wannabe actress who lives next door to Sheldon and Leonard and is the stereotypical blonde waitress waiting for her big break.     

While, it’s much funnier to watch in person (which I highly encourage), I want to give a quick overview of the episode.   I promise, I really do have a point in all of this!

Raj is known for putting together “fun” evenings for the group, including dinner mysteries and the like, which all turn out to be giant flops.   In the “Scavenger Vortex” (Season 7, Episode 3), the group had all ditched Raj’s last planned event, so he decided to put together a scavenger hunt for them, reminiscent of their college days.    The primary characters, along with a couple of their girlfriends (Amy, a socially awkward neuroscientist, and Bernadette, a short and sweet microbiologist), are sitting in the apartment waiting to decide teams and get their first clues.   

It was initially determined that teams should be by couples, however, no one wanted Penny on their team, because she was considered a “liability” (even by her boyfriend, Leonard).  After some discussion, they decide to draw names from the hat, and the teams are linked as follows, as the hunt begins:
                                                                   Sheldon - Penny
                                                                   Leonard – Bernadette
                                                                   Howard – Amy

Sheldon, the genius, is initially upset about being paired with Penny, who throughout the course of the game continues to get more of the clues faster than he does, though he ignores her each time having to solve the riddle himself.   

Leonard discovers that Bernadette is nowhere near as sweet as she has appeared to be as she barks at him the entire time, criticizing his driving, yelling at him to move faster, telling him he’s nothing but a big girl.  

Howard and Amy start with awkward silence but then discover a mutual passion for Neil Diamond, ending up completely distracted and not even finishing the “race”.   

In the end, Penny ditches Sheldon and makes it to the “prize” (a golden coin) first, immediately followed by Leonard and Bernadette.   The three are furiously tearing the couch apart looking for the coin when Raj comes out with a cigar and a smile and tells them to look in their pockets.  They find that they each had the gold coin in their pocket the entire time.   At that point, Sheldon walks in with a big smile on his face, saying “Look, I won!”   Amy and Howard are nowhere to be seen.   Because the hunt had been full of arguing, criticism, strife and drama, the participants were angry with Raj, saying that this was the “stupidest game ever”, but Raj responded that he just wanted everyone to have fun and be together as he pulls out his own gold coin.  “See, I won too,” he said.  

There are so many “life lessons” that can be drawn from this episode, including the value of good partnerships, how we treat each other in the pursuit of a goal, enjoying the game without getting sucked into the competition, or how we treat those who aren’t the “same” as us (not as smart, nothing in common, etc).   But, for the sake of this particular post, I want to focus on the hunt itself.  

It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out. ~ Prov. 25:2

Recently, I’ve been meditating on this proverb.  Initially, I thought that it wasn’t really very glorious or even very nice for God to hide things, but as I watched that Big Bang episode and reminisced on Easters past, I started to see it a little bit differently.  

I don’t remember exactly who said it (I think it was Bill Johnson), but I believe this is true: “God doesn’t hide things from us, He hides things FOR us.” He’s not trying to keep us from knowing Him, understanding Him and His ways, but He is wooing us into a “game” of sorts, to go deeper in our relationship with Him.    The word “glory” in this passage means “glory, honor, abundance, riches, dignity”, and there is so much more than we can even begin to imagine!   He is anxious to share His glory, riches, abundance with anyone who will go after Him.   The amazing thing is that He doesn’t just wait on the other side for us to find Him, but He plays the game with us, helping us decipher each clue, rejoicing with us in each step, encouraging us with every frustration.  

I know that there may be some out there who will get their panties into a bit of a twist when they hear me likening our walk with the Lord to a silly game, and I’d like to be sorry about that, but I just can’t be.  You see, there is such joy in discovering the secret treasures of His heart.  There is so much delight in pursuing Him and finding Him in the most unexpected places.   It is so much fun to partner with Him each and every day.   This is why we were created, to walk with Him, to be His kid!  

When I was a baby, my daddy played “peek-a-boo” with me.   He was always there, and easy to find!  As I grew, the game changed to hide-and-seek.   And I would count to 10 and run to find him, and I always did find him.   As I became a young adult, the games changed to more strategy type games, including Monopoly and Risk.  To be successful in these games, you need to understand your opponent’s though process, and it’s a little trickier.   I cannot even begin to remember who won or lost, because those times were never even really about the game.  It was about spending time together, growing together, and building our relationship.

As a Father, God is always inviting us into a deeper relationship with Him.   He wants us to know Him, understand how He thinks, how He works.   And as we grow in our walk, sometimes the game gets a little trickier.   Sometimes it’s harder to know what He’s thinking, or catch His heartbeat regarding a certain matter.  Sometimes there is a lot of yelling, crying, frustration and distraction.   But, we’re always together, and we always “win”.   Remember, that when things are hidden, they are hidden FOR you, not from you, and it is your Father’s delight for you to discover all that He has for you. Like Raj said, the winning is in the playing the game together!      

You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.  ~ Jer 29:13