A SCARY MOMENT

Scary moments are not good. Church was over yesterday, and I was greeting folks as they left out the front door. A worried mother exclaimed, "My son is gone!"

She was new so I didn't know her or her son. He was four.

"He was with his grandmother, and now he is gone," she said.

"When did you last see him," I asked.

"Just a moment ago, and now he is gone," she responded.

We quickly had people looking everywhere. Our sanctuary is large and we have classrooms that surround it. There are lots of places a little one could be. We frantically looked. He wasn't to be found. We looked with even more concern. The police were called.

We have security that watch inside and outside our facilities, but this little one had gotten away from his family and couldn't be found.

More concern.

Some prayed.

Others looked again.

The mom ran back out to the car where she had already checked for him, and............

there he was. Hiding....

He had gotten some candy from a family member's purse and wanted to eat it before he was caught. He ran out to the car and hid.

Oh my! Were we relieved. The boy was frightened. The mom was thankful, shaken, and upset.

But then I thought about what the Lord taught about being lost.

A lost coin.

A lost sheep.

A lost son.

A lost soul.

I will search with greater passion so that none will be lost.