The Lost Sheep

 ¹²"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? ¹³And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. ¹⁴In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost ~ Matthew 18:12-14

It is difficult to comprehend just how much God loves us.  We turn our backs on him, we stray far away and we do things that do not please Him, however, He never stops loving us.  As a parent, I cannot stand to see any of my children fall.  I get anxious when they are away.  It hurts me when they are not obedient.  When they return home, my heart rejoices.

If I feel this way as a parent who is full of weaknesses and imperfections, I wonder just how God feels when we stray.  The Bible quote above is one of my favorites.  It shows us the pure joy that God has when He finds the one lost sheep, no matter how black the sheep has become.

Since my father's death, I have been dwelling on the topic of black sheep.  He could not have been more lost or further away from his family when he began to hear the voice of his shepherd calling him home.  Now the children of this black sheep, the black sheep squadron, are following in our father's footsteps.  The way my siblings and I interact with each other and with other black sheep from all over the world is all part of God's plan.  The truth is that everyone of us is a black sheep...lost and disconnected from the Great Shepherd.  He calls us but many of us do not hear Him.

There is a big party in Heaven each time that a lost sheep is found.  How about you?  Do you hear Him calling you?