Growing up, if school was canceled due to bad weather, children rose early, watched TV, and waited for the scrolling announcements at the bottom to see if school was in session. Road trips looked different as there were no instantaneous directions because we didn’t have maps on our cell phones. There were no cell phones. Some parents sped down the highway, with large paper maps in front of their faces to figure out where to go, while their young child held the steering wheel. Getting lost on trips was normal, just like riding up to the gas station to use the phone book was.

Eventually, we ran out of sports to play, pizzas to eat, and dreams to chase. So, we created our own adventures.

One day, as such a moment struck, I grabbed my fishing rod, newly thread with strong, translucent fishing line, and headed to my friend’s house. We happened to have a brand-new, crisp, fake twenty-dollar bill. Using tape and a sinker for weight, we attached the currency to the end of the fishing line. Walking down the alley to one of the busiest streets in the neighborhood, we settled into the bushes, beside the stop light, waiting for the perfect moment.

I threw the fishing line out and the fake twenty-dollar bill landed right on top of the sidewalk beside the curb waiting for someone to pick it up. The bushes and trees were the perfect camouflage for us. We observed everything that happened.

Time after time, people put their cars in park, turned on their hazard lights, got out, and walked over to the money. Kneeling down and reaching for it— we watched their faces as the fake money scooted away across the ground, thanks to our fishing contraption. One businessman in shiny shoes and dress slacks tried to grab it and I slowly began to reel in the line. The wind must have blown it, I’m sure he thought. He chased the money as it crept along the concrete. I started to reel the line faster as the man chased the fake money.

People stared at him and we laughed our heads off. It was just too funny!

Neither one of us stopped to realize that as I reeled in the line with the man chasing the money, I was also leading him right to us. Whoops.

Before you knew it, we were face-to-face with the man. His forehead and dress shirt was soaked with perspiration. His face was twisted into a scowl. He was livid.

The man screamed at us and said words I never knew existed! I grabbed my pole and my friend, and we ran as hard and fast as we could through that field. We escaped and once we arrived at my friend’s house safe and sound, we laughed and grabbed a snack. The man never caught the money.

The fake money, that is.

That was the last time we played that game and probably the last time that businessman chased down a twenty in broad daylight too.

We can laugh at this story, but the truth is we have all chased after things of no significant value, just like that fake twenty-dollar bill. We can be successful at what, in eternity, doesn’t even matter.

There is one pursuit where our expectations and hopes are not only realized—they are exceeded. What is it? Our pursuit of a deeper, sacred, more intimate connection with Jesus. Jesus didn’t die on the cross so we could have a Christian-branded life. He gave His life so we could have the reality of Heaven here and now.

Posture your heart toward Jesus, vulnerably express your desire to know the reality of God in your every day, and let the sacred chase begin.