Regular Joe's

“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. ²³Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. ²⁴For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.  Luke 15:22-24

For almost 18 years I had the privilege of working directly with teens, during which time I took students on approximately 23,000 trips to the beach, snow, amusement parks, camps and conferences.  At the end of every trip we did the ritual of the LOST & FOUND.

Here is how the ritual worked:  When the trip was over, I collected all the coats, gloves, towels, shirts, shoes, pants… that did not find their way back into the suitcase from which they came.  Standing in front of the whole group, I would hold up each item and ask, “does this belong to someone?”  Almost never, did what was in the LOST pile, find someone willing to move it to the FOUND pile.  My conclusion? A lot of teens do not care that much about lost things.

When Jesus was on earth, there were many people who were considered by the religious elite to belong in the “LOST PILE.”  These were folks were often the ones that were drawn to Jesus and quite frankly, Jesus was drawn to them.  Once, while He was teaching, many people from the LOST PILE gathered around him.  This caused the religious elite to grumble.  Their complaint?  “This man welcomes sinners and even eats with them.” Upon hearing this, Jesus responds with three stories about God’s LOST & FOUND.

The verse from above is a part of the story of a father, whose son rebelled, leaving home with his part of his inheritance.  After a season of partying, he fell on hard times because he had squandered everything.  Sitting in shame, the son had a long overdue moment of clarity and decided to go home to beg his fathers forgiveness.  While still a long way off, the father saw his son returning and ran to meet the LOST son.  When the father reached his son he spoke;  “Get my robe, put my ring on his finger, get the calf we have been fattening up, we are having steak tonight.  My son who was LOST is now FOUND!”

Jesus used these stories to describe the heart of God for those who are lost.  Unlike the students we worked with who sat quietly while lost items were paraded in front of them, Jesus says that God, upon seeing the lost, jumps up and shouts MINE! At one point in time Jesus said that HE came to seek and save the LOST and to do so at the very cost of His life.  My conclusion?  God cares very deeply about lost people.

Right now, no one reading these words can escape the word LOST.  We are all people who were once lost, some are people who might even now be lost and we certainly have been given the invitation to seek the lost.  The question that I am wrestling with right now is this.  When seeing that which is lost…  When interacting with people who are lost… am I like the teen sitting back and letting what is lost stay in the LOST pile or am I in partnership with God helping what is lost move into the FOUND pile?

Random Act of Kindness: Give five sincere compliments today to people you might not otherwise compliment.