I’m not sure how many of you were like this, but as a child at the shops I was constantly running off and getting lost. I think my mom dreaded taking me, because she knew it would always end with her having to come and find me. What should have only been a quick trip to the shops would inevitably end in an hour-long ordeal of panic and emotion.
I didn’t run off to be spiteful or because I wanted to get back at my mom for something. I was just really inquisitive, I wanted to see and experience new things. For me, being at the shops was all about the adventure!
The problem with the adventure was that it nearly always seemed to end in tears. I would run off, happily doing my thing when all of a sudden I would realize that I was alone. I had run so far that I could no longer see my mom, and what made it worse was that I was in unfamiliar surroundings. I didn’t even know where to go to find help. I would start to panic, thoughts would creep into my mind like “What if I never find my mom?” “What if I never see my sister again?”, “What if I never go home?”
Not knowing what to do, I would eventually just end up standing still and crying until someone asked me what was wrong, to which I would reply “I’ve lost my mommy”. The crazy thing is that even though I was no longer alone, I still felt lost; the only person who could save me was my mom.
Eventually they would send out a message on the intercom and my mom would come and get me. As soon as she saw me she would always give me a hug and tell me how much she loved me. She wasn’t angry, but rather relieved that she had found me and that we could now go home together.
You see what I know now is that as soon as I had run off, my mom would immediately drop everything she was doing and come to look for me. She wouldn’t rest until she had found me and knew that I was safe.
The reason that a lot of us can still relate to this common experience today is because we find ourselves in a similar situation. In life we have chosen to run off and do our own thing, have our own adventures. We feel that no matter what people say, we are going to do things our own way. We try almost anything and everything in order to have a good time, yet at the end of the day, just like that little child in us, we end up alone and scared.
The good news is that there is a God out there who is always looking for you. You are his child, and just like any good parent he won’t rest until he finds you and brings you back home. No matter what you have done or where you have been, He is always there for you and his love is unconditional.
Your life is not without hope! All you have to do is call out to the one who is searching for you. His hame is Jesus, and it’s only in him that you will you find your true home.
You once were lost but now you are found.