The year was 1964. I remember it like it was yesterday. I’m eleven. My five siblings range from two months to twelve of age. With the exception of the baby, Jessica, we spent our days outside running and playing, as children did in the early sixties. There was little fear of child snatchings and houses weren’t large enough for children to spend all day in the house with toys strewn everywhere. It was generally accepted that kids stayed outdoors, while moms kept the house tidy. 

Just behind our backyard was the greatest toy any child could ever imagine. WalMart, Target, and Toy R Us still have nothing that could complete with this top-notch gift—a treasured prize that could open any child’s eyes to new adventures. What was it? It was a glorious, ever-inviting corn field with stalks as high as our daddys’ heads and closer together than the racks at the downtown department where we shopped for back to school clothes. 

Every afternoon after school, we would rush to meet the neighborhood children for a game that has stood the test of time—Hide and Seek. Soon the arguing would begin as to who would have to be first– the first chosen one would be called “it.” “It’s” job was to stand and count to an agreed upon number while the others scattered in search of the best hiding spot and then “it” would be free to try to find the hidden children. 

The corn field so was perfect for this game. I was a skinny child, not much bigger than the smallest stalk, but size didn’t matter in the corn field. Everyone had equal opportunity to hide successfully. So we did. For hours, we would giggle and run and say someone cheated and get out of breath as we raced to reach “home” before getting touched by “it”, for it “it” touched you, you were the next “it.” “Home” was always our safe place, our goal. 

Absolutely, no respectable game of hide and seek would leave off that favorite of favorite places called “home.”  After all, what good it is to hide, if you have no possibility of safety?  So “home” was decided on before the game began. It’s was neutral spot, a place where everyone had the chance of getting to. It’s was in plain sight and added much to the intrigue of the game as “it” must always keep one eye on that spot as well as the moving bodies in his territory. 

Hide and Seek. Where does the fascination lay in this game? What intrigues my grandchildren today to get up from video games or cell phones or TV and gather up flashlights for hours of running and chasing in the stillness of a summer night? 

In my research I’ve found little of its conception, only that the game exists in almost all countries with almost identical rules. Perhaps, its simplicity is its greatness. Today, as in my yesterday, children find great joy in the mystery of hiding and the adventure of seeking for something that may be so well hidden that they, with a flashlight as bright as Albert Einstein, could not find. 

To this day, I can hear moms from all over the neighborhood call out that supper was ready. With much groaning and yells of who will be “it” tomorrow, we would pop out of the corn field and scurry out like rats running from a farmhouse cat. And we would head to the safest place I really knew—home. 

As I have gotten older, I sadly discovered that home isn’t the safest place for all children. In fact, there is little safety in any corner of the world today. We’ve taken to hiding more and more as the world I knew about with corn fields for playgrounds is now filled with terrorists and muggers.  Planes, trains, buses and cars have made access to the world more convenient, but many never even cross the street to meet their neighbors for fear of the unknown. 

Nobody wants to be “it” anymore. Being “it” requires too much. Being “it” is burdensome and a tremendous amount of responsibility. “It” has to keep their eyes open to those around him or her at all times. “It” has to guard “home” and try to touch those seeking it before they get there so they never reach home. “It” must spend hours looking for people who don’t want to be found. But, today, people don’t want any extra people to take care of. They have enough.

So who will be “it”? Who is not afraid of the dark and doesn’t tire of looking out for others? Who longs to reach out and touch others and take them into his safe place? Who seeks us and always finds us? 

The only answer is God. He doesn’t mind being called “it,” but rather embraces the calling with passion and pride.  

He never feels burdened, but embraces taking on your sins and mine.

He, happily and joyfully, desires to bring everyone home.

He not only tags you, but He adopts you as His own, claiming full responsibility for you.

He is never afraid of the dark and never gets tired of hearing His name called as He is our light, our redeemer, our savior, our comforter, our peace maker, our friend, our Father.

For this is what the Sovereign Lord says, “I myself will search for my sheep and look after them.” Ezekiel 34:11