To Seek and Save the Lost

Luke 19 verse 10 says that "... the Son of Man (that's Jesus) came to seek and save the lost".

I have learnt a bit about that recently. I came across an old book of mine (Beyond Ourselves by Catherine Marshall - it's very good, I can heartily recommend it). I was reading through part of it and came across Ms Marshall writing about how another great Christian author, Hannah Whitall Smith, discovered for herself what she calls 'the unselfishness of God'.

In this discovery Mrs Smith realised that although we often call someone who is not a Christian 'lost', or a 'lost soul', '... nothing can be lost that is not first owned.' It brought great illumination to her.

Ms Marshall continues ... "So the word lost came to be for Mrs Smith a term of greatest comfort. If a person is a "lost sinner", it only means he is temporarily separated from the Good Shepherd who owns him. The Shepherd is bound by all duties of ownership to go after all those who are lost until they are found .... "Who can imagine a mother ever dropping a search so long as there is the least chance of finding a lost child?" Mrs Smith wrote. "Then would God be more indifferent than a mother? Since I had this sight of the mother-heart of God, I have never been able to feel the slightest anxiety for any of His children. We can trust Him ... trust Him."

I have found this to be very true and profound in the light of what happened last week. My father-in-law (my husband's dad) is not a Christian (to be honest for the most part neither of our families are, we are both first generation Christians, which may explain all the garbage we've had to work through). Anyway, my father-in-law is an active 78 year old. He used to do body building, has always kept fit and generally quite healthy, and even likes to go mountain biking up the local woods several times a week.

My mother-in-law is much younger at 68 and also healthy and active. They are not always in together, but often out doing things.

Last Thursday morning, when they both happened to be in the house, my mother-in-law heard some crashing from the kitchen, and believing her husband had just accidentally dropped something she walked back to the kitchen, joking about it. However she found him at the dishwasher, with the left half of his face dropped and slurred and incomprehensible speech. She realised instantly it was a stroke.

The chances of them both being indoors and within shouting distance was slim. Yet for all the places he could have had a stroke, it was there, where he was safe, with help immediately on hand.

My husband was able to be with his mum within a few minutes to support her and the first responder (who turned out to be someone they knew) and ambulance were there really quickly. And praise God they were surrounded by the best help, people they knew, and the necessary clot busting drugs that need to be in within a 2 hour time frame to be effective, were in well within that.

He was out of hospital and back home on Friday! He is trying to get used to the drugs now as they were giving him a headache, and has a very slight droop to his left hand side, but overall it would seem as though nothing has happened.

And my husband's brother and wife, who are pretty unpleasant towards us and really don't like us, were never around when we were, so there was no stressful bedside reunion/ confrontation. God, the Good Shepherd, even guided those lost sheep to save adding to the stress of the situation and causing any upset.

We pray now that the whole family will recognise it was God's hand and care upon their lives, but we can see that even though they may not recognise Him yet, His hand is definitely upon them. And I am confident now that God will go to any possible length to not only seek, but actually save, the 'lost'.

So apologies for another absence - I am realising that is how life often is - life has been busy.

With continued prayers that you may know God's hand on your lives, and for everything to do with flight MH370 and for the ongoing situation in the Ukraine, T.A.C. : )