Are You the One? - by Joel Hempel Have you ever felt lost? Maybe your GPS led you astray, or worse yet, it quit working when you didn’t know where you were going or where you were. It is alarming and can be frightening. It happened to us in Canada, and again in Germany when we didn’t know enough of the language to ask for help. It’s a terrible feeling! What about spiritually? Ever get lost? Maybe you forgot the language of prayer or felt it wasn’t working. Ever wander away from your core beliefs, and suddenly you realized you didn’t know where you were? There can also come a time when our bodies can’t get us to where we need to go, or when our brain can’t figure out how to get back to where we want to be, or, worse, how to find God. There is good news. Jesus has a parable for us, words of assurance. So he told them this parable: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And 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 that was lost.’ (Luke 15:3-6). If you are ever the one, or if someone you love is the one, and the way home or the way back to Jesus is lost, God knows the way. And he knows the way to you, as well as to that special person. More faithful than the Marines, Jesus will not leave behind or lose one of his own. The feeling of being lost is terrifying. That’s why we are reminded to put our faith not in feelings or circumstances but in God and his love for us. |
