My son agreed to watch the pastor's dogs, Gabby and Cassie, while the pastor and his wife went to the East coast to meet their first grandchild. He would spend hours over there playing with the dogs to keep them company.
He was invited to go camping with his girlfriend's family for the 4th of July weekend, and I agreed to watch the dogs while he was gone. That's where everything seemed to go downhill.
That morning Malachi fed the dogs and played with them before he left. Then I took over. As if on cue, the dogs ripped a hole in the fence, and ran away that late afternoon. I drove around town talking to everyone I saw, asking if they had seen the dogs. A few people had seen them, so I kept searching, until it was so dark, I couldn't see my hand in front of my face.
That night I laid in bed, unable to sleep. I tossed and turned, slept for three hours, and then got up to begin the search again at dawn's first light. My husband searched too, we walked cornfield after cornfield, tree line after tree line, after hearing that the dogs had been spotted at someone's farm. I drove to Davenport, stopping at each farm along the way, telling them about the dogs and asking if they had seen them. My phone rang with a recent sighting, and then we found Cassie. I brought her home, gave her water and food, combed some of the burrs out of her fur and snipped off the big ones. She seemed relieved to be home. We continued to search for Gabby, assuming she would be nearby. But as night approached, I started to lose hope that she would be found before the next round of fireworks frightened her even more.
We searched again the next day, which was the 4th of July. But as the fireworks continued, Gabby ran further and further away. I followed the dog tracks, and walked the RR tracks. I walked through farmsteads, and stopped everyone I saw. I made posters with Gabby's picture that I had taken Saturday afternoon with my new cell phone.
Those posters proved vital as someone out spraying the fields saw Gabby Tuesday night. The next morning they saw the "Lost Dog" poster and I was notified. Gabby's neighbor Caroline and I walked the trees in that area, while my husband and son drove the roads on the lookout for movement.
After several hours of walking and calling, Gabby came out of the trees to the voice of her neighbor Caroline. Caroline called my cell phone, and told me she had Gabby. I had the leash around my waist, so I ran almost two-thirds of a mile back to where they were. I was so relieved when I saw her. She looked fine. She wasn't hurt, she wasn't scared, and she was found. I was so grateful to be able to send a picture of Caroline and Gabby to our pastor with the caption, "What was lost has been found!"
We walked the half mile back to the vehicles, then drove Gabby back to her house. Cassie was so excited to see her sister. She burrowed her nose in Gabby's fur, licking her and jumping on her. We brought them outside, in the fenced yard, the hole patched with odds and ends to keep the dogs in. They drank and ate some food. Gabby seemed content to be home, and Cassie was excited for the reunion.
As I sat and watched the dogs, I realized that I was completely exhausted. I had been walking miles each day in the heat and humidity. I hadn't had much to eat, and hadn't been sleeping well. I also had a revelation.
The relief I felt at the return of Gabby was something like how God feels when one of His lost children comes back to Him!
Jesus talks about lost sheep in the Bible as he tells us parables to help us understand God's love for us. In Luke verses 3-7 the Bible tells us , 'Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.'
I think I have a been given a true understanding of this parable. I didn't put Gabby on my shoulders, we walked with her on the leash, and my rejoicing was primarily on Facebook. But when I read this parable now, it has a different meaning, its much more 'real' to me now. I think I really know, somewhat anyway, how God feels when he brings a lost sheep back to the flock.
When one of us admits our sin, and asks God to help.
When one of us finally says, I can't do this on my own, I need your help God.
Or when an unbeliever says "OK God, if you're really there, show me."
I think there really IS rejoicing in heaven!
But don't forget the last part of this parable. It says 'I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.' So what does that part mean?
It means that God rejoices over the lost, the least, the sinner who begs, who pleads out of desperation for God's help, His mercy and forgiveness. When someone finally breaks, gives up, cried out for help, there's a party in heaven! As tears of bitterness and guilt and shame well up like a river and flow uncontrollably, the angels sing songs of happiness and praise for God's glory!
Jesus says "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." (Mark 2:17) It also says "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. " (John 3:17)
These passages are so important to understand. So many false teachings come from self-righteous people who don't understand the true concept of salvation because they don't have the true love of Jesus in their hearts.
We are all guilty.
Every one of us is a lost sheep.
Not one of us is good enough to get into heaven.
Nothing you do will get you into heaven.
You cannot bargain with God.
You cannot make up your own righteousness rules and think that somehow God's going to comply.
Only God is righteous, and only by the grace of God will you ever be allowed into His presence. You can't get there on your own. You also can't get their by condemning other people.
God is very clear on this one. There is a very narrow road to the truth, and if you miss it, you end up on the wide road to destruction. If you condemn others for their sins, you condemn yourself. Every time we pray the Lord's prayer we ask that we be forgiven in accordance with how we forgive others. "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us."
"For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:10)
I guess we should be thankful that we were lost, because that's why we have Jesus.
