Lost and Found

I've lost a few things lately. It really bothers me. I mean it REALLY bothers me. I can't stop looking and looking, checking and rechecking every nook and cranny until the misplaced object turns up. It can become an obsession.

I think the root of this goes back to my childhood. It was hard to hold onto special things in the chaos that was our life. Special toys, special memories, special mementos of happy times slipped away. So now I desperately want to offer my own children something I didn't have. I want them to have special things that make it through time... real things that they can touch, and hold onto. I want them to be able to depend on things being there. I don't want them to know the doubt, the loss, the disorder that I did.

So when things become lost I turn over everything looking. And looking. And looking.

Right now I am looking for my daughter's favorite toy. It is a stuffed deer that her mother got her for Christmas. She hadn't hardly stopped playing with it since she got it. So when it came up missing she was very upset. And that ache in my heart started. And so began my search.

I have looked all night tonight. I have looked under ever couch and chair and in every cupboard and drawers. I have checked every inch of their room twice. I have look in the cars over and over and over again. I have yet to find it. The ache to find this thing is so strong inside of me. Few things are as powerful as the feeling of something be gone... not where you can find it... LOST.

There is one feeling that is stronger, richer and oh so sweeter. It is the feeling of FINDING that item that you have quested for.

Ever lose your wallet? There is a panic that sets in and a frantic search starts accompanied by the ache that it might be gone and all the things you will have to do to replace your ID, your credit cards, your other personal information. And then, like a fresh wave washing over you, there it is... FOUND. You rejoice. Suddenly everything is back to normal all because the item is back in your grasp. All the frantic searching is worthwhile once you have it FOUND.

Do you know the feeling?

Now think about our Lord. We are the item He searches for. HE is the searcher and we are the misplaced keys that he pursues. If we are lost, He stops at nothing. He overturns each couch cushion and checks every cupboard and every drawer until we are FOUND.

And then... HE celebrates. Back in His hands... everything is good again.

"Suppose one of you had a hundred sheep and lost one. Wouldn't you leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the lost one until you found it? When found, you can be sure you would put it across your shoulders, rejoicing, and when you got home call in your friends and neighbors, saying, 'Celebrate with me! I've found my lost sheep!' Count on it—there's more joy in heaven over one sinner's rescued life than over ninety-nine good people in no need of rescue.

Luke 15:4-7 (The Message)

How awesome is it to think of GOD having that rejoicing feeling, the feeling of FINDING over us? That blows me away. What a personal and loving God we have... who searches for the lost and rejoices over the FOUND.