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Where's Wally? How many of you parents know about “Where’s Wally?” For those of you who don’t know, or haven’t heard – there is a series of quite amazing picture books with the title “Where’s Wally”. (#1 – Wally close up) Well I’ll give you a clue! ( #3 Crowd –arrow. -> #4 Crowd) There he is! Children became so fascinated with trying to find their hero that more than 40 million of these books have been sold in 28 different countries. They are here in our Devonport Library too. The author assures us that Wally is there on every page. But most often he is not easy to find Wally! (#5 another Crowd scene) - Can you find Wally here? Lets zoom in a bit ( #6 Crowd scene) and see if you can find Wally? You have to be willing to look for him! There he is! ( #7 Crowd scene / arrow -> #8 Crowd/arrow) When you DO find him, there is a real sense of joy and accomplishment. Part of what makes it difficult to find Wally is that he is so ordinary-looking! One of the hardest pages in which to find Wally is when he is featured on a page of Wally look-alikes! (#9 crowd) Each is almost identical – except that the real Wally, on this particular page, (and I haven’t found the real Wally here yet! - is missing a shoe!) Now as I thought about the Where’s Wally books, I thought, this is what the Christmas story is about too? It’s about God being so close to us, even among us, that most of the time we just don’t realize it. Most of the time we don’t KNOW that it is God who is so close to us! God shows Himself most easily to us in the love and friendship of our friends and families; and He shows himself to us in the beauty and wonder of creation, or the marvels of the universe. But it looks all so natural and normal that we fail to see God there, almost hidden away among His creation! But there are other times, too, when we might find it difficult to find or recognize God among us, - such as when life is not easy, or when we get sick, or when we try to pray and God doesn’t seem to be anywhere around,- or when things go wrong, or when we have upsets in our families – and we think that we are alone – and that God isn’t with us on the page! The author of “Where’s Wally” books assures us that Wally IS there on every page, even if I cant find him very easily. So I just have to believe the author and take his word for it. So God, in the Bible assures us that He is here with us, even though there are times when we cant seem to find Him. So He asks us, at those times, just to believe Him, to trust Him, that he is here with us, even when it seems like He has disappeared. When God came to be with us on the first Christmas Day, and was born as the baby Jesus in a manger, it’s as though, in a way, he put on the Wally glasses and striped shirt and the goofy hat. When Jesus grew up He looked ordinary, like almost anyone else. But from that moment when Jesus was born into the world as a baby, we know without doubt that in a very special way, God has come to be with us, on every page, through every moment of our life, - but its just that we don’t recognize him because He looked so ordinary. So Where’s God? - He’s closer than you think! . He’s where you least expect him! He’s anywhere people are willing to look a little closer at the people and events around them – and in all of those – they will find God. He’s closer than you think! |
