“Since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – His eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse (Romans 1:19-20 NIV).

How long has it been since you played hide and seek? Come on, be honest.

Don’t be embarrassed. Nobody can read your mind. Maybe you played the game in a youth group, block party or with toddlers.

There are so many variation of this old game that all of us have played at some point or another — in the dark or in a cemetery.

Played with safe zones, as teams, freeze tag-style, or some other twist to the game. It’s a game that is fun for all ages.

1…2…3… “Wait, you’re counting too fast!” 1 Mississippi. 2 Mississippi…. People running all over trying to find a dark corner or a bush to hid behind.

The teams split up so everyone doesn’t’ get caught at once. Each person for themselves, trying to find the best place to hide before someone else finds it.

Or a new place to hide because everyone knows all the other good places. Then, the person or team doing the seeking starts moving along through the area, trying to be quiet and sneak up on someone.

Carefully searching in all the usual spots and keeping an eye open for new ones.

Looking in all the shadows, pulling on locked doors, listening for the creaking of a branch, heavy breathing from someone who was running, rustle of leaves, searching for movement in the shadows.

You’re on high alert. If there are more people than hiding spots, if you played a lot, or if there are only certain places to hide, it might be easier to find people.

The best hiding places: Of course, if you are a real pro at this game you know the best hiding places are sometimes the most obvious. Behind an open door, crouched behind a parked car, leaning against a wall or some other place almost in plain sight.

It’s because people seeking are so careful about searching in the hard to find places they assume that nobody would hide in an obvious place.

Just like in hide and seek, we sometimes pray that God would make His power known to us.

We’d sure like to see some evidence that God is real. “If you are real, God,” you might pray, “make a great revival fall on Atmore, Alabama because it seems all of our churches are struggling.”

And you figure, “Well…no sign of God here.” We pray for healing, peace and new puppies. All ways God could show us He’s real and powerful and when these things don’t happen, we get sad and sometimes have doubts about God or His promises.

Praying is not necessarily about getting results! It’s about getting in touch with our God. We try to blame God for our disappointments when He doesn’t come through as expected, but that’s really us – not God.

The truth is, proof that there is a God is everywhere. All we have to do is stop looking in the hard to find places and look in the most obvious places.

Look around in your every step. Nature, brilliant colors, friends, family, school — Where do you find God in your everyday life? Or better yet, where are you looking to find God?

You will not necessarily find Him in the places you might expect, but you will always find Him if you seek Him. He is in no way trying to hide or make it difficult for you to find Him. but His ways are so far above ours that at times it seems almost impossible to find Him. But, I guess the real question is, ‘Is He the one seeking us?”

It appears that we are constantly trying to hide from Him. Open up today and you will find God.

He is a God that will always be there even if it seems that He is not.

Jerry Caylor is the pastor at Brooks Memorial Baptist Church in Atmore.