ADAM, WHERE ARE YOU?

      Adam, where are you? In a series on the Bible's great questions, I must add this question to the list... because I've experienced both the pain of hiding and the joy of running home free. I know what it's like to be burdened by sin and secrets... and I know what it's like to celebrate God's forgiveness. Perhaps, you're hiding too, and if you are, you need to know that God is calling, Ollie, Ollie, all in free!"
       When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good... and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it...and gave some to her husband... and he ate it. Then, their eyes were opened and they realized that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves and made coverings for themselves. Then they heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees in the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, "Where are you?" He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid. And God said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?" The man said, "The woman you put here with me- she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it." (Genesis 3:6ff)
      Recently, I took time to look through a pictorial from one of the church's I served. I do this every now and then because it allows me to reconnect with people I love. I look at a middle-aged couple who were happy at the time, but ever since the doctor's botched his surgery, the man can no longer speak or walk... and they both wonder why. There's also a picture of a younger couple with kids. They're both impressive, but soon after the picture was taken, they were in the midst of bankruptcy- and they left our church to find a place where they would be be fed spiritually.  Finally, I looked at the picture of our church's youngest couple. They were part of our praise group, but Alex fell in love with a woman he met over the internet. So, he left for NYC, leaving his wife with a big hill to climb... and a lot of questions on her heart. There's a story behind every photo... because life is difficult, and because our journeys are burdened with sins. secrets, and a hundred little deaths.
      Someone said that we are "as sick as our secrets," and I believe it. We are also as sick as our sins because unconfessed sin is a cancer of the soul. Indeed, sin always keeps us longer than we wanted to stay and costs us more than we wanted to pay. Thus, crippled by fears, secrets, sin, and the burdens of life... we hide! We hide from our God. We hide from our family and friends, and we hide from our own best selves. Accepting the lies that our culture tells, we come to believe that people won't love us if they knew us... so we wear a thousand different masks and tell them what they want to hear. Of course, the burdens of living dishonestly are too much for us, and we lose ourselves entirely. To be like God, we play God... only to discover that we are naked... and so we hide!
      A lesser god would let us sleep in the bed that we've made... but our God calls to us, "Kenn, Jim, Bob, where are you?" Our God walks among us with compassion in his heart. "Come," He says, "You who have no money- come buy, eat- free of charge... from the bread of life and the cup of salvation." A lesser god would've  given us over to our sins, but through his Son's death and resurrection, God calls, "Ollie, Ollie, all in free." "Ollie, Ollie, all in free. Kenn, Judy, Ann, come out from your hiding... and run home to me!" 
      "Kenn," he said to me when I was killing myself with sin and drinks, "Where are you?" "I'm hiding over here," I replied, "I'm tired from running, exhausted from wearing so many masks, and I am very afraid of being found... because I am naked." I figured that I was a goner, that hiding would be a way of life for me... but then I hear his voice, softly at first and then  more loudly, "OLLIE, OLLIE, ALL IN FREE. COME ON IN. COME AND EAT THE BREAD OF LIFE. COME AND DRINK THE WATER OF LIFE. COME AS YOU ARE, GOD CRIED... AND WITH TEARS IN MY EYES... I CAME!