Discovered

"What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off.  In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish." - Matthew 18:12-14

Today I want to talk about the lost and found. I've been in both. Found is more fun than lost, though being found does not guarantee never getting lost again. When I'm found I have a better sense of where I am, of where I'm going or, gasp, where I've been. Found is a place, that's all. Like any other place the most it can ever offer is perspective. What we see when we're there is rooted in the eyes by which we see, which is often influenced by the lenses of what we believe.

When I'm found I notice my kids and my wife more. I'm more patient and attentive. I help with the homework or the bath, I make my famous grilled cheese sandwiches (which Anthony claims are even better than Foster Freeze, though I'm not sure that ranks as a compliment) and I'm calmer, less prone to my "bull in a china shop" persona. Found is a happy place. I realize that I'm not alone there and, well, God is more visible.

When I'm lost? Well, that's a different story. Lost is a place like no other because it's a place between places. You're not really "anywhere". You're just "there". On road trips you end up lost when you're going from one place to the next and forget the way. But on the journey of life you mostly end up lost because you have forgotten the why. There are many why's. Why am I here? Why am I alone? Why am I afraid? Why can't I figure it all out? The why's multiply and are so thick that you can arrive at lost and...well...get stuck there.

When you're lost the single, most important thing to remember is that you're worthy of being found. Scripture tells us that to God you are worth searching across the ends of the earth for. He's searching for you right now. He's waiting for you to be ready to leave the "why's" behind and rest in a whole new place that's neither lost nor found but, even better, a place that's called "discovered".