Tag – You Are It!

“When are you coming home dad”?

My girls know that they are to stay inside behind locked doors if an adult is not home. Well this has been torture to my kids over the past two weeks. Most days I’ve managed to slip out of the office a bit early and head home. The cell begins to ring around 1:00 pm – “Dad, when are you coming home?” The problem is that they have an uncoordinated effort. My phone usually rings 4 times with the same question (now that I think about it, maybe their effort IS coordinated and their intent is to wear me down)??? Regardless, it usually works. The summer game of choice is a version of Tag called Capture the Flag. My girls round up the neighborhood kids and play this for hours.

Tag – you remember the game. The object is to tag, or touch, other players who are then out of the game. Usually one player is it and has to chase and tag the other players, one of whom then becomes the new person who is it. The fun is in the chase.

Tag is a worldwide phenomenon:

* In Brazil it’s called “Queimada”.
The Twist – Each team has a field and there is a place called the cemetery. One person from each team starts in the cemetery, so he’s dead.

* In Japan it’s called “Mr. Drauma Fell Down”.
The Twist – The person who is it (the tagger) yells to other children, “Mr. Daruma fell down!” When the tagger yells, the other children run as far away as possible. Then he turns his back to them. Next he calls out again. “Mr. Daruma fell down!” After that, he turns around and looks for the other children because he has to catch them.

* In Taiwan it’s called “Catch the Chicks”.
The Twist – Children playing the game pretend they are an eagle, a hen, and some chicks. All the chicks stand behind the hen in a row, and the hen tries her best to protect her babies. When the game starts, the eagle tries to catch the chicks. If a chick is caught by the eagle, then the eagle wins the game, and the chick who is caught is the eagle in the next game.

Take a look at verse 6 of the 23rd Psalm – “Your beauty and love chase after me every day of my life.”

Every moment of our lives we are being pursued by the Creator of this Universe. He is chasing you, yet so many of us continue to run away because we are afraid that He is chasing us to punish us for our sins. It is just the opposite! He is chasing us to capture us in His loving arms.

Without His grace, the chase would be formidable. Because of His grace, why run?