Luke 19.10 "For the Son of Man came to find and restore the lost." (Message Translation)
When I was a young man, I often thought about what it would be like to have kids. I could envision two little kids, one boy and one girl, running around our house (it didn't actually end up that way). After I got married, my wife and I went seven years before our first son was born. People constantly asked if we were ever going to have kids to which I always replied, "We're still practicing."
Well, seven years into a pretty fun marriage a little blue smurf looking creature showed up. Thankfully, he eventually turned flesh colored, and the hospital let us take him home. Shew! I wondered how I was going to explain the blue boy when I went out shopping with him.
He was a beautiful, blue eyed, blonde-haired dynamo that kept us really busy. Jonathan was full of energy and always exploring. Today, some might say he was hyperactive. Then, one of our friends said it best, "He has a lot to do." Well, he's still busy, but it's always with good things.
Jonny, was my tool boy. He loved tools. He loved to touch them, look at them and he loved to see what they could do. One of our Saturday morning rituals was to go to breakfast, and then Jonny and I would go to Sears to look at tools. It was like going to Disney World for him.
One Saturday when he was about 2 and a half, we were at Sears looking at tools. Jonny was on one side of a table saw, and I was on the other side. I turned my head for a second, and when I looked back, he was gone. I looked down the isle, and no Jonny. I went up and down the isles, and still, no Jonny.
I started to panic. I could feel my heart racing, and sweat was beginning to show on my face. I ran up and down the isles a couple of times. No Jonny. Finally, on my third trip up and down the isles, I came around a corner and there was a small crowd.
In the middle of the crowd was Jonny. He was having a good time talking to the small group who were wondering why a lone two and half year old was wandering around Sears. I ran up and grabbed him and off we went. I realized in that moment how God must feel when one of His children are lost. My heart was overwhelmed with the horror of what could have been, and I couldn't imagine the outcome of never finding him. It was traumatic in those moments.
God will search the ends of the earth to find one of His lost sons or daughters. The trauma of seeing His creation enter into eternity without a relationship with Him must be heart-rending. I know the two or three minutes in Sears neary did me in. Multiply that by millions.
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