The older I get the more things I seem to misplace. Mail, keys, wallet … it’s frustrating. Thank goodness I haven’t gotten too old to forget losing something much larger a long time ago. Let me tell you about it.
I was 19 when I got my first job paying real money at a large Dallas retailer. I had this dream of being a fashion merchandiser, so the retailer worked me every holiday, weekend and late night shift they had. I worked the Men’s Department during Father’s Day, Jewelry and Perfume during Mother’s Day, and the Toy Department during Christmas and the day after Christmas. The rest of the time I worked in piece goods before hand-held calculators were invented.
One night after my shift ended I walked out to the parking lot and my car wasn’t where I remembered parking it. I walked to the front of the store and to the back lot three times racking my brain about what could have happened to my ’68 Ford Mustang. I had my keys … so where did it go? Then it hit me, my car had been stolen. It was lost to me.
Jesus talks a lot about “lost” things – sheep, a son, a coin. They reveal the heart of God to us. In one we see a love so personal that he leaves the flock to pursue one wayward sheep (that would be me). In another He looks at the horizon until he sees the son return home and throws a pretty amazing party.
He takes on all of our burdens, infirmities, heartbreaks, and worries. He has broad shoulders capable of bearing all the weight we are willing to give up to Him. Our burdens become His. Christ pursues us, saves us, carries us, and rejoices over us.
My dad found my lost car, fixed it up, and fixed it so no one could steal it again. That’s how I think of my heavenly Father, finds it, fixes it, and makes it better than before.
Luke 15:6 says the shepherd calls his friends and neighbors together and says, “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.”
Tagged: Christmas, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day
