Mar. 21: The Best News of the Day!

The 12-year-old Boy Scout, missing for 4 days in the hills of North Carolina, was found Tuesday! Michael Auberry had gone missing Saturday and search and rescue crews spent four days and three nights looking intently for the missing young man. The ranger spokeswoman was elated as she announced, “this is the best news of the day!” after Michael was found just before 11:00 yesterday morning.

The details surrounding his ordeal will be recounted in the coming days—how he got separated from his troop, how he endured the 30-40 degree nights without shelter, what he was thinking, etc., but for now only one thing matters. The boy has been found!

There are those who are ‘lost’ in a spiritual sense; misplaced, not where they are supposed to be. God grieves over His children who are far from home. Jesus revealed God’s heart in 3 parables recorded in Luke’s gospel, chapter 15. Jesus was being criticized by the religious leaders of the day because He was attracting (and enjoying the company of) the wrong kind of people.

“God”, Jesus said, “is like the shepherd who has 100 sheep. When one goes missing he leaves the ninety-nine in the open country and goes after the lost sheep until he finds it. When he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home, calls his friends and neighbors and throws a party.”

“God”, Jesus said, “is like the woman who has ten silver coins and loses one. She turns her house upside down, diligently searching until she finds it, then she calls all her friends and neighbors and throws a party.”

“God is like the father of an ungrateful son who demands the inheritance while his dad is still living. The young man blows the fortune on selfish indulgences and wild parties. But when he winds up broke, homeless and on skid row he comes to his senses and goes back home hoping to be the family servant. When the father saw his son from a distance he ran to the boy and received him with wide-open arms and a kiss… and threw a huge party. That’s what God is like! He celebrates when spiritually lost people are found and come home.

The urgency of the search and size of the celebration indicates the value of the object that has been lost; whether it be a sheep, a coin or a wayward boy. “I tell you the truth” says Jesus, “that’s the same way it is in heaven when one of God’s misplaced children changes his thinking and comes home. That calls for a bigger party than ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”

The fact that we have a heavenly Father who loves us, searches for us, and celebrates over our recovery, who rescues us, makes us whole and sets us free from the things that enslave us--that is the best news of a lifetime.

~ Father, thank you for searching for me when I was lost and not where I needed to be with you. Help me now to join Your search and rescue operation to find Your other missing children and bring them home. Amen.