Finding the lost one

Last night, as we ate a long awaited dinner with a group of volunteers from our youth program at Hillvue, my husband got a phone call. It was a senior high student asking if Billy new where his friend was.  To preface this, the student ministries got together and went out on a mini-mission trip right here in Bowling Green where they went to a church associated with ours in a neighboring community and had a big party for two days including fun games and treatS but most importantly worship, the gospel message and unconditional love offered to each kid that came. It was truly an amazing experience.  It seemed, after a few more phone calls, that one of the students decided to go spend the night with one of the kids from that neighborhood. Now, there is much more to it than that but we won't get into the sticky details. The problem was, that as we sat at dinner, no one knew where this student had gone.  We all decided not to worry until we knew that there was something to worry about but Billy was not having it. He looked at me and mouthed, "We are going to the park and finding him."  As the night progressed the entire group of us, nearly 20 people, searched the streets of this neighborhood for hours. We asked for help, knocked on doors, followed some clues and still, no luck. I was so impressed by how these people were just giving up sleep and comfort to search for a student we had no idea how to find.  I won't lie,I was a little nervous at the sight of my husband walking up to door after door, person after person like there was no danger in sight. Who knew what was on the other side of that door? Part of me wanted to tell him to stop and let's just go wait somewhere but he wouldn't even if I asked so he kept knocking and driving around.  Eventually, hours later, we all reconvened at the church and I talked to the student's mom. She was distressed and scared and more things than I can explain because I am not her but it all came down to explaining that she should call the cops if he does not come home and we would wait around a little longer for him.  We were all about to go home but we just kept standing in the parking lot. I mean, there was absolutely nothing else we could have done but we just stood there, waiting to do something. One of the women then noticed someone walking along the road.  I don't know what he expected to find when he walked up but I guarantee it wasn't a huge crowd screaming his name. I immediately called his mom back and she was there within minutes. Her face and words when he walked up immediately brought me to weeping. I mean, she thought the worst. She thought we would never find him and, if we did,that it would not be a joyous thing (which she said to him in more realistic words).  I gave her a long hard hug and really didn't know what to say to the student. I mean, I was angry for all the pain and fear he put in the people he loved and happy for all the joy that comes with finding a lost kid.  And it was the picture perfect example of the gospel. I mean, we never really stopped looking for him or hoping he would show up wherever we happened to be. And then, when he was found,  it is indescribable. Knowing that someone who was lost is now found, that fear is gone, that desperation vanished.  I want to walk around everyday unafraid of who is at the door I am knocking at and instead searching for souls that are lost in the same way and with the same intensity that we searched for a boy who wandered off. If I shared life with the people of this world with that kind of urgency, things would be different, my life would be different, their lives would be different and, above all, the Kingdom would be different.  In the Love of Christ