My sister and I and her two children had just left the food court. Suddenly my sister realized that the younger child, Jennifer age two was missing. Without a moments thought she turned on her heel and started racing through the mall in the direction from where we had come. The older child and I ran after but could not catch up to her frantic pace.

It was not long before she spotted Jennifer, standing in front of a store window happily absorbed in its contents. There was no sign of danger, no weird looking person approaching her, yet on spotting Jennifer my sister did not slow down but ran even faster until just a few feet from her she dove to the ground like a baseball player diving for home plate and sliding the last couple of feet she scooped the surprised child in her arms, slid up against the wall and remained on the floor clutching Jennifer and weeping with relief. You would never know from my sister’s emotional state that Jennifer had only been missing for a couple of minutes and had not been in any danger.

This scene made me think of Jesus’ story of the lost sheep. If a human mother whose child was missing for just a few minutes and was in no danger experiences such emotions upon finding her child, how much more God, whose love is perfect, must rejoice in finding the lost. And how easy to see that the longer we are away and the more danger we put ourselves in through our sin, the greater His anguish and the greater is His joy when we are safe in His arms again. How wonderful if all sinners could realize there is no need to fear returning to the Lord, they will be met with such love and joy!
 

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