Hiding in Plain Sight
At camp I was a Bible class teacher and also a co-counsellor with Jordan. We were surrogate dads to two boys, ages 5 and 6.
The little fellas wanted to play hide-and-seek. “In our small room?” I wondered. Impossible! There’s no place to hide! Each “round” would be over in a matter of seconds! By midweek, it had continued to rain, so we were restricted to our room. “OK,” I told the boys. “I’ll play hide-and-seek with you and Jordan.” Evan (a counselor) had brought two more little boys with him.
The “rounds” went about as I expected. As a child tried to count to 30 (missing a few numbers here and there), the rest of their little friends and we older ones, scattered to whatever might be a hiding place: under a bunk, under a cover, behind a door, or behind a bedside stand.
“It” began his search, and, within a few seconds, found his friends, and everyone squealed with delight! (They squeal like little girls, in case you forgot!)
In succeeding rounds, I noticed where Jordan and Evan hid; these places seemed to give “it” some grief, as he tried to find them. Surprizingly, they were obvious places—to a grown-up, but not to a little boy! Jordan went to a top bunk, lay on it, with his head toward the main aisle, and he covered himself with a blanket.
After “It” had found everybody, he recruited his little friends to find Jordan. One of his recruits climbed up the bunk, made a quick look, actually touched Jordan’s covered head, and reported to his fellows, “He’s not up here!” It happened more than once; I actually saw this! I shook my head in disbelief! After about five minutes, they finally found him.
Taking my cue from Evan (who had tried this earlier), I stood behind clothes hanging in the coat rack. I arranged the clothes in such a way to be sure that I could not be seen. Only my tennis shoes were visible below the edge of the hanging clothes. I stood motionless, containing my laughter, as the little boys ran frantically around the cabin, searching for me, passing right in front of me dozens of times. Peering over the top of the hanging clothes, I could see everything clearly; so could Jordan and Evan. It must have been ten minutes, before the little fellas found me, even after Jordan and Evan gave them plenty of clues!
Things hiding in plain sight: What a profoundly simple and marvelous idea, and it seems to work well! We can laugh at little boys who miss the obvious. I wonder what God thinks, when grown people miss the obvious: God has “hidden” His glory in the plain sight of the universe! (See Rom. 1:20 – 23; Psalm 19.)
Oh, that the world would have humble hearts to see the obvious!
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