Lost & Found

“ And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance. ”

Every school has a cupboard or a closet that is called the Lost & Found . Inside are things that have been mislaid and forgotten, and later were found and turned in to the Lost & Found. There is no name inside any of the things, or they would be given back. When a child remembers the jacket or lunch pail that he left on the playground, he searches and, finding it still missing, looks into the Lost & Found to see if someone turned it in for safe keeping. His lost item is returned to him. Such relief comes when a precious thing has been safely kept in the Lost &Found.

I was buying some plants for the church and my prescription glasses were in my pocket. I don't need to wear them for everything: just seeing up close. This day, I dropped them somewhere along my path, for when I got into my vehicle, the glasses were missing. I searched all around my parking space, where I had loaded the plants, but nothing could be found. I backtracked and still couldn't see them anywhere. I finally gave up. The thought kept bugging me however, and days later I returned to the store and asked customer service if they had a Lost & Found. Lo & behold, there they were! I felt triumphant. They may have had no value to anyone else—being my prescription—but to me they were very valuable.

I have (by God's grace) a good sense of direction. I seldom get lost. I remember directions given to me. I am a man, after all, so I don't ask anyone along the way. I had a boss once who was probably dyslexic, for his directions were usually backward. When he said left, he meant right, and so on. This was often a path through an oil refinery or a chemical plant where normal rules for organization of buildings, streets, etc don't apply. Somehow I always figured it out, knowing the kind of directions he gave and what he probably meant when he visualized his own way, backwards.

Being lost, however, is a very scary thing. A young child may get lost rather easily, everything in the world being so much larger and potentially dangerous. I think we've all experienced the panic a child feels when his or her mom disappear in a large department store or grocery. The racks are so high on both sides of the aisles, we can't see very far. Our voice is lost in the racket of muzak, registers, air conditioning and shopping carts. “Did she leave me? Has she forgotten me? Will I ever get home again?” These thoughts may be illogical—of course she's going to look and find us, eventually—but in times of panic, fear blocks out this assurance and we begin to think like little animals more than people. A squirrel lost in a supermarket can cut a pretty erratic line to try and find a way out and back to his familiar tree!

When we're lost, how do we find our way home again? Sometimes we can do so by scouting around until we see a familiar landmark—a special tree, or hill, or prominent building. We get our bearings and come home. It gets harder when fog sets in, or it's dark and we lose sight of the familiar. I've found that living near hills helps me keep my sense of direction. I always know north and south by the position of the hills. When I've been in country where there were no such features , just flatlands, I got a little disoriented. But when you can find your way home again, you're not really lost.

Sometimes we really are lost . There are many stories about people who've had a bad bump on the head or a severe trauma and because of amnesia can't remember who they are. When you don't know that, you're pretty lost. You can't remember whom you live with, where you live, who you are or what you do. “Am I a student or do I work for a living? Do I live in this city or was I just visiting? Have I been kidnapped and just escaped, but don't know who to call or where to go? Who can find me, save me, and remind me who I am? Can anyone tell me who I am?”

Being born in this world is like that. Now, we don't believe that we existed anywhere before our conception, that we were angels that now have bodies. But we do come from the creative might of God and His life-giving breath. We exist 9 months in a water world of muffled noises and fuzzy voices speaking words that must have meaning, but don't translate—only the inflection is discernible, the speech being friendly or threatening. We can barely see in this deep world. Slowly its walls close in and become tighter and more confining until we just have to leave. One very painful day and we squeeze through a doorway just opened for us and – ouch ! The intensity of light, the chill of air, the sharpness of sounds, and the shock of bright colors and images swirling in confusing patterns, big creatures, familiar voices—it's those voices that draw us into welcoming arms, warm skin, comfort of milk and we've been found. But who are we and why are we here? Where is here? Where did we come from?

I've long had the notion that, although we don't have a pre-existence, we are born with a strong sense of God. I don't think babies atheists who must be trained in order to believe. They believe, or know, God. This world, however, is corrosive to such knowledge. Our attachment to mother and father are necessary, and should help us to mature our knowledge and belief in God. However, fallen people make bad gods and our folks, even doing the best they could, warped our ideas of God and we began to lose that innate sense of God, goodness, truth, true joy. I remember an account of one young toddler who looked urgently into his newborn baby sister's crib and said, “Tell me about God. I'm beginning to forget.”

Mankind once knew God face to face. Our forebears walked in a garden world and spoke with God just like we speak with each other. But imagine that communication—having eye-to-eye contact, true fellowship and complete access to the God of all creation. What things you might ask Him, and He'd tell you! You could know who you are and where you belong. You could achieve anything you were meant to do. You could have all wisdom and knowledge and live in complete harmony with your world, and with others like you. We once were made to live such an existence.

Now, it's been a long time since that innocent world vanished forever. We are born into another, fallen, imperfect planet among people who have forgotten who they are, and never knew where they came from. They have precious little awareness of where they are going: yet they are giving you directions. We are like sheep that have wandered off from the shepherd and become lost in a desert world. We have no way of knowing how to get back to Him, and have forgotten Him altogether.

God told the prophet Ezekiel: “Behold, I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd cares for his herd in the day when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will care for My sheep and will deliver them from all the places to which they were scattered on a cloudy and gloomy day. And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and bring them to their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the streams, and in all the inhabited places of the land. I will feed them in a good pasture, and their grazing ground will be on the mountain heights of Israel. There they will lie down in good grazing ground, and they will feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I will feed My flock and I will lead them to rest. I will seek the lost, bring back the scattered, bind up the broken, and strengthen the sick.” Ezekiel 34:11-16

Jesus is the good shepherd and He was sent to find God's lost sheep. We didn't know we were His lost sheep. We'd adjusted to this existence and figured we must be okay, for we do what everyone else does. But we were lost. We were one of His sheep, and He came looking for us. Jesus had a difficult time convincing those who had invented a way to God and who needed it to be validated. The notion they were lost made them angry. He told them a parable: A shepherd left 99 of his flock to find one lost sheep. He sought it because he loved it. When he found it, he was glad and made a celebration for the finding of his lost lamb. “I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance… there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.” Luke 15

We have adjusted to this world, but I am sent to inform all of us, this is not our home. We have other names where we are going, names that truly tell who we are. He has come once to prepare us for that home, and if we believe Him, we get ready and wait for His return for His lost sheep. There is nothing in this world that can hold us here for long. Those who are precious to us—may they come with us. We need to make them aware of the One who will return for us at last. Prepare for a celebration. All heaven is waiting. I once was lost, but now am found. Was blind, but now I see.

PFH+