Jesus said: "Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!"
Luke 15:6
Luke 15:6
I remember as if it were yesterday. I was four years old when my family and a neighborhood family went to a lakeside resort for the weekend. Oh, it wasn't one of those fancy resorts of today, but consisted of simple cabins on the shore of one of Minnesota's 10,000 lakes about two hours from home. It was the perfect getaway. That is, until Sunday afternoon when I wandered off. I vaguely remember playing with another little girl at the water's edge, but the memory seared in my mind forever is what I saw when I returned to our cabin and opened the door. Everyone and everything was gone. My family had left without me. I was alone. I was lost.
I remember closing the door and sitting down under a nearby tree crying my heart out. Soon, the park manager came and quickly figuring out what had happened, he and his wife took me into their cabin, sat me in a rocking chair in front of a window and told me to watch the road, assuring me my parents would be back. I don't know how long I sat there but my parents did come and the picture of them driving up that road and my mother jumping out of the car before it was fully stopped is seared in my mind forever. Even more so is the look on my mother's face as she ran to the cabin. It was a look of terror, fearing I had drowned and was lost forever. But to me, it was a look of love.
Later my parents explained that when it was time to return home, I couldn't be found, and since my sister had ridden home with the neighbors, they assumed I had too. In those days there were no phones, so they began the drive home and when they arrived, the first thing they did was run to the neighbors to see if I was there, and learning I was missing, they raced back to the resort. Over the years, whenever my dad told this story he always added the fact that never had he driven so fast as he did on that trip back.
All this came to mind last week while having dinner with our daughter and her family. She asked my husband and me to share a childhood memory, and this is the first that came to mind. As I shared, my thoughts suddenly made the jump to God and the fact that He too searches for the lost. That's why He sent Jesus--to bring the lost back to Him. Perhaps that's what He is doing today in the midst of this pandemic, providing one more opportunity for the lost to be found.
If you are lost in your sins--and we've all sinned--God is looking for you. Let Him find you. Like that look on my mom's face, God has that look for you. All you have to do is repent of your sin and invite Jesus to be your Savior. It's that easy. It's that simple. Don't be lost forever.
Believe me, when you are lost, there's nothing like being found!
Love and blessings,
Judy Rose Grubaugh
I remember closing the door and sitting down under a nearby tree crying my heart out. Soon, the park manager came and quickly figuring out what had happened, he and his wife took me into their cabin, sat me in a rocking chair in front of a window and told me to watch the road, assuring me my parents would be back. I don't know how long I sat there but my parents did come and the picture of them driving up that road and my mother jumping out of the car before it was fully stopped is seared in my mind forever. Even more so is the look on my mother's face as she ran to the cabin. It was a look of terror, fearing I had drowned and was lost forever. But to me, it was a look of love.
Later my parents explained that when it was time to return home, I couldn't be found, and since my sister had ridden home with the neighbors, they assumed I had too. In those days there were no phones, so they began the drive home and when they arrived, the first thing they did was run to the neighbors to see if I was there, and learning I was missing, they raced back to the resort. Over the years, whenever my dad told this story he always added the fact that never had he driven so fast as he did on that trip back.
All this came to mind last week while having dinner with our daughter and her family. She asked my husband and me to share a childhood memory, and this is the first that came to mind. As I shared, my thoughts suddenly made the jump to God and the fact that He too searches for the lost. That's why He sent Jesus--to bring the lost back to Him. Perhaps that's what He is doing today in the midst of this pandemic, providing one more opportunity for the lost to be found.
If you are lost in your sins--and we've all sinned--God is looking for you. Let Him find you. Like that look on my mom's face, God has that look for you. All you have to do is repent of your sin and invite Jesus to be your Savior. It's that easy. It's that simple. Don't be lost forever.
Believe me, when you are lost, there's nothing like being found!
Love and blessings,
Judy Rose Grubaugh