For Real

Most weeks I have a FaceTime conversation with my grandchildren.
Each of them has moved through the same pattern of development as they have become familiar with the technology.
At first, they just stare at the screen because it’s got moving pictures!
At about four months they start grabbing at the screen because it’s got moving pictures and they know how to reach out and grab now!
Then sometime before they turn one, each sweet grandchild has climbed down off their mummy’s lap and walked around to the back of the iPad to see if Grandma is there.
They recognise the moving picture as their real grandma and figure she must be somewhere!
Somehow each child makes peace with the ‘there and not there’ Grandma and they take to pressing their faces onto the iPad screen to share a kiss.
By three years old they have it all sorted and they know how to make a FaceTime call, have a conversation and end the call.
When one of my grandsons was two and a half -  at the stage where he knew, I was not behind the IPad screen but he was obviously still a bit flummoxed by the whole ‘there and not there’ Grandma experience – at that stage he was sat on his mum’s lap peering into the screen as I was chatting with his mummy. He was looking intently at my image and giving it the occasional poke.
Then he said to his mum, “Can I cuddle that Grandma?”
I could see on his face he was thinking, “She looks like grandma; she sounds like grandma, can I cuddle this grandma like I cuddle my Grandma?”
Can I cuddle that grandma? Is she real?
In that little boy’s question, I heard an echo of a question human beings have been asking for ever!
It’s a question about God.
Can I get near God? Is he real?
Jesus is God’s answer to that question – Jesus is God with us - God as one of us.
Why not do something this week to experience the answer for yourself?
Grab a bible and read about Jesus.
Ask someone who knows Jesus.
Have a conversation with Jesus. He is for real!
 
 

Karen Siggins