Lost and Found

If you have ever been lost, you know how good it felt to be found!
When I was 12 years old, Grandpa Wunderle took me deer hunting. He was a stow-away immigrant from Germany, had a deep guttural voice, distinct German accent and enjoyed eating cold sardines out of a can (smelled disgusting!). He was quite a character, called me Stevie, and wanted to show me how to hunt.
O-dark thirty (before sunrise) found us in the woods. Grandpa showed me all his hunting gear, demonstrating how it worked. He handed me a whistle.” Stevie, your job is to blow this whistle, which will drive the deer to where I am so I can shoot them.” I am sure I thought that was not very fair to Mr. Deer.
Throughout the day, I blew and blew that whistle with all my might.  Over and over again. Unknowingly, I wandered off and drifted away from where Grandpa told me to stay. It got dark at the end of the day. Really, really dark-dark! I had no idea where Grandpa was. Forest noises haunted me. My young mind imagined all kinds of creepy things that were coming to get me.
I was lost. Very frightened. No idea where I was or how to find Grandpa. I blew that whistle for all I was worth! After what seemed an eternity, low and behold, in the distance I saw a lantern and the shadow of a big, burly man coming my way. It was Grandpa! I ran as fast as my terrified feet could fly, hugged and held on to him for a long time.
STEVIE WAS FOUND! NO LONGER LOST!
My friends, I do not like being lost. Not in the woods. Not on the highway. Not in an unfamiliar city. Not anywhere. My wife says my sense of direction is so pitiful I could get lost in the car on our driveway. There is more truth to that than fiction!    

• Lost is not my friend. Being found is!

I want to share the story of a young man in scripture who was lost and then found. Please read the narrative in Luke 15:11-32. Visualize this story of lost and found. This story told by Jesus is called The Prodigal Son. Prodigal means wasteful.
A young man asked his father for his inheritance. Dad is still alive, so what is up with that junior? The father gave his second son the money. Immediately, the misguided, greedy boy left home and went far away where he partied to sow his wild oats.  Spent his entire inheritance on wine, women and song. When false friends spent all his money, he ended up feeding pigs in a pig pen! The hogs were eating better than him!
Friendless. Financially broke. Emotionally destitute. Lamenting his situation, verse seventeen records a monumental, destiny changing phrase “when he came to his senses.”  When he woke up to his dire circumstances he turned toward home. He would not return as a son but as a servant.
Trudging up the road, dirty, filthy, smelling like a pig (not a kosher thing for a Jewish boy!) he saw his father coming to meet him. Before he would complete his repentance speech, his dad, full of compassion, ran to his smelly son and embraced him!
The wayward son confessed his sins. Father’s response was utterly amazing. He told his attendants to “quickly” do the following things,

• Put the best robe on him. Signifying he is a son, not a slave.
• Put the signet ring on his finger. The ring from dear old dad was a credit card. Really Dad, giving him money!
• Put sandals on his feet. Why? Sons wore shoes. Slaves were kept barefoot so they could not run away.
• Cook the fatted calf. Time to party. Why? “This son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found; they began to make merry.” Verse 24

Arriving back home, the elder brother was ticked off. Dad simply told him you have been with me all this time, but your brother, my son, who was lost has been found! That is why we are partying!
Every time I read this story, my eyes well up with tears of joy and spiritual chills course through me.  

• So, do you get it? Lost son. Found by a loving, restoring father.

Regularly in my restoration ministry I meet with lost folks. Lost in their relationship with God. Lost marriage and family relationships. Lost loved ones. Lost jobs. Lost finances. Lost dreams. Lost hopes. Lost, lost, lost needing to be found!
John Newton was a slave trader. He came to faith in Christ and wrote the most iconic, popular Christian hymn of all time Amazing Grace. Newton wrote “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost and now I am found, was blind but now I see.
Newton’s personal testimony: once lost, but found. Blind but seeing with the eye of faith.
Like John Newton, I, Steve Roll, once was lost. But now I am found. I was blind. But now I see. October 6, 1972 changed my life for eternity when this lost boy turned to the Savior and Jesus welcomed me home to His heart with the promise of eternal life in heaven! GLORY TO GOD!!!

• How about you my reader? Are you lost and need found? No matter how lost you are, God loves you and sent His only Son Jesus to save you. Open your heart to Him. Surrender your life. Receive the free gift of eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ.

• If you were once lost but now are found, rejoice in your salvation every single day.

Imagine what it was like for the wayward son, fresh out of a smelly pigpen to enjoy a feast of delicious food, a warm bath and lay his head on a down pillow that first night home. He probably said “Oh my, I was lost. Now I am found because my father loves me!”

• Jesus is a Savior who seeks and finds lost people.

Do you know someone who is spiritually lost? Share the Good News of Jesus Christ with them. Lead them to saving faith in the Savior.
“For the Son of Man has come to seek and save that which was lost.” Luke 19:
A Word For Your Week: Jesus specializes in finding and saving lost souls.