Lost and Found

I'm sitting here writing this post with a splitting headache. You know the kind; the headache that comes AFTER a stressful situation has worked itself out.

Earlier today we received a call that an older loved one was lost in downtown Seattle. We were told that the police had been notified and would we please come help look. Of course we dropped everything to join the search. To make a long story much shorter, this person eventually "found" himself, walking back to the location from which he had left. While everyone was relieved, there still remained a sense of unease in that it could very well happen again.

Many of us have been there before... a lost child in the mall, the elderly aunt who still loves to roam.... The feeling is never a good one, whether you are the searching one or the lost one.

Jesus had a lot to say about being lost and found....

And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house.... For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." Luke 19:9-10

Now all the tax collectors and the irreligious Jews were coming near Him to listen to Him. Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them." So He told them this parable, saying, "What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? "When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. "And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!' "I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. "Or what woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? "When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost!' "In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." Luke 15:1-10

I am so glad that when I was lost Jesus found me!