I Was Lost, But Now I'm Found

Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them.
Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?
And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home.”
(Luke 15:3-7 NIV)

My precious cat, Sammy, went missing one day. He was a big softie, in no way equipped to deal with the dangerous world beyond the confines of his comfortable home. I was in a total panic, frantically searching the neighborhood. I walked for hours calling his name, looking under every bush and up every tree, into every culvert and drain, asking every neighbor I met if they had seen him. For two long days I desperately searched for him, with little sleep, going out at daybreak each day.

Then it occurred to me. Isn’t this how Jesus searches for us, His lost sheep? He walks day and night, searching the valleys and mountainside, calling our names, His voice becoming hoarse, His eyes scratchy and sore from dust and pollen, His legs scarred by the scratches of brambles and bushes, but never giving up.

And once Jesus find us, He never lets us go. He saves us, seals us with His Holy Spirit, writes our names on the palms of His hands and in the Lamb’s book of life. In doing so, He sends a very clear message to the Enemy, “This child is Mine, hands off!”

I finally found Sammy. He was upstairs in my neighbor’s condo. She had gone away for the weekend and had left the door open while carrying her luggage to the car. Sammy’s curiosity got the better of him and he slipped in unnoticed. He had spent two days ten feet above my head. My neighbor also had a cat, so Sammy had food, water, a kitty box, and plenty of soft surfaces to recline on. He had a vacation while I had a breakdown!