4GIVEN

I am a proud Houstonian but I am also a New York City transient. This morning while facilitating my children’s morning devotional, I was reminded of a moment in time where we desperately needed God’s divine intervention. My family, extended family and I were having fun in the sun at Coney Island. At the time, I was a approximately 7 years old and it was the first time my brothers and I ever saw the ocean! As I play back that moment it feels like yesterday; hearing the billowing waves, walking on the hot sand, and playing games with my brothers and cousins. Needless to say, we were ‘ballin’ and that day for a moment felt perfect, at least in the eyes of a 7 year old. As lunch drew near it was time to check in. My mom yelled, “Richard, Dietrich, Lowell, and Noel!” Of course we heard and came charging back to home base and that’s when this perfect day took a drastic turn. “Where is Noel?”, my mom asked. Of course, I was focused on eating my now warmed bologna sandwich. No one knew where the heck Noel went. So the hunt began! My mom and my grandmother immediately began to search for Noel. Leaving everyone behind except me they began piercing through the swarm of people. Why did they leave everyone except me? I wandered the same thing but later found out that I was being used as a real life ‘missing child’ billboard. You see Noel is my
twin brother and the best way to described how he looked was to point at me!! The good news was they found him and man if you could have captured the look on my mother and grandmother’s face; it was priceless. What a relief and a great family reunion. Yes, I was relieved of having to walk bare feet on that non-forgiving hot sand!! Our devotional today came out of Matthew 18:10-14; the parable of the Lost Sheep. I couldn’t think of a more relative illustration. As I mentioned, the look of my mother’s face was priceless when she and Noel reunited but the look before the reunion was perhaps similar to the man’s look in the parable when he discovered that one of his sheep had gone astray. In verse 13 we learned that if the man finds the sheep that he would rejoice more over the one sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray. I figured that’s why no one thanked me for being his walking ‘missing child’ billboard!!! In this parable Jesus gives the meaning without question. In verse 14 He said, “Even so it is not the will of your father who is in Heaven that one of these little ones should perish.” Today, know that we were once all lost and it was Him that sought after us and not the other way around. God is longing to reunite with that one sheep so if I am speaking to you respond to His call. If I am not speaking to great, you are in the family of God but do me a favor you have my authorization to share my story with someone who isn’t!

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