Hide and Seek

Have you ever played the life changing game of hide a seek? If have ever been a kid, in a dark church, dark house you have played. It is a children's minister's back up plan if he forgets a game for the evening and a student minsters nightmare at any and all lock-ins, all-nighters etc. Teenagers in the dark where no one can see specifically trying to get someplace where no one will find them, partnered up with another teenager... and wouldn't you just know it's someone of the opposite sex...



Before hormones get out of control though, it is an awesome game of excitement, mixed with fear, strategy, mixed with raw talent (or just a small frame that fits in little spaces (FYI, I stink at the game) When I was smaller I loved playing it. My brother and I would play around the house. The only problem was that I always ended up hiding in the same place....the bathroom. Why there, you ask? Simple, I would get so excited about hiding that I would always have to use the restroom. If I hid anyplace else I would always get caught when I had to run to the bathroom. It was always at the worst time too. My bladder would give way just as my brother would be walking down the hall, or when he would get close to the room I was in. So I adopted the bathroom strategy to enable the game to last longer, but this strategy was obviously short lived as there were only 3 bathrooms in the house. Worst case scenario my brother would catch me in the third room he checked...I always wondered how he was so good



Seeking was more fun to me than hiding. I loved going around the whole house opening up cabinets, looking in closets, even checking under beds to find somebody. Not one part of the house would go untouched. Seeking, when done right, is so thorough, so complete. Nothing is left uncovered, the seeker is on a manhunt and his search is never complete till the hider is found.

Sounds a little stalker...but how awesome is it that Jesus proclaims His mission in Luke 19:10 as a seeker and saver of that which is lost. His ministry was one of finding the lost sheep, of redeeming the prodigal son, of searching for those who had gone astray. Jesus is the master seeker and unfortunately some of us think we are the ultimate hiders. The problem is that we only have 3 bathrooms and it is just a matter of time till He finds us. The cool part is that we don't have to hide, His goal is not to scare us, it is to find us. When we hear his footsteps close by, when we are hiding in the pit of shame or discouragement, don't dig deeper or place something over you to hide even further, just come out. Climb out of that cabinet you have been stuck in and let Him find you... A word to the wise...He already knows where you are.