#179 He Has Been Found

The Bible provides us three clear lost and found stories in Luke 15. A shepherd loses a sheep. He searches for it, finds it, and then calls everyone together to celebrate. A woman has ten gold coins. She loses one, searches for it, finds it, and then gathers her friends to celebrate. Finally, the story of the prodigal son; a son leaves home, squanders his inheritance, reaches the lowest of lows, and then shamefully returns home. He is met by a father who embraces him, and throws a party at his return.

The Bible tells us that in the same way as these three rejoiced, heaven rejoices when one sinner repents and comes to Christ.

When I consider these three stories, I do what I always do. I take their stories further. I consider the future of these characters. Did the woman who lost her coin continue to express her joy over finding it? Did the shepherd who lost his sheep now value that sheep even more? Did the father’s relationship with his son blossom to greater depths now that he had returned?

I wonder at the past of their stories, too. Had the woman who lost her coin been careless? Had the shepherd not valued the one sheep because he had 99 others? Had the father neglected his son, leading his son to want to explore what the world had to offer him?

I’ve lived my own similar lost and found story. When I reached the ‘found’ part of the story I felt like these characters. I wanted to shout my joy from the mountaintops. I wanted to send out notifications to the world that what had been lost was now found. Something that had been broken was now restored. It was all I could think about. For weeks, I would go to sleep giddy with joy, and awake thinking it had all been a dream.

But I also know that the splendor of such an event has the tendency to wear away the older the joy becomes. The unbelievable that at one time was worth celebrating, soon becomes yesterday’s news.

What of these characters? How did their stories end? I know in my own life I no longer find myself continually giddy with joy. I don’t wake up wanting to shout my lost and found story from the mountaintops.

Although we cannot live only on past joy, there are pieces of our pasts that we must bring with us into every day lest we forget and once again lose what once caused us great joy over being found.


At Easter, you cannot avoid the image of Jesus on the cross. I find that it follows me everywhere I go during the months of March and April. When I consider the cross, and what Jesus did for me it shakes my entire being.

I was lost.

He found me!

The greatness of finding something that was lost is nothing compared to being the one that is found.

It is easy to be reminded of what Jesus did for me when it is right there in my face. I have a good cry during passion plays, my chest puffs with gratefulness when I read scripture, and my throat chokes up when I hear Amazing Grace. But then the seasons change, my lost and found story is filed away under ‘Feel Good Stories’ not to be read again until next year.

This Easter, do what you must to cling to what Jesus has done for you. Don’t allow your lost and found story to become a part of the past. Make it an ever present part of your story as it is being written…a story so great that even shouting from the mountaintops won’t do.

#96 He has been Redeemed

When I was thirteen the movie "Armageddon" was released.  It instantly became one of my favorites.  To this day it is a movie I could annoy any first time viewer by finishing the actor's sentences for them.  

As a young teen, my interest in this movie was based on two reasons alone:

1. Bruce Willis; they're still evaluating what is wrong with me, but while most girls were crushing over Jonathan Taylor Thomas I was obsessed with older actors like Mel Gibson and Jean Claude Van Damme.  It doesn't end there.  In fact it got worse as I got older.  Michael Caine?  Pure hotness right there. 

I have no shame.

2. Astronauts; to this day I still flock to any movies where spacesuits are involved.  Excluding the movie "Sunshine".  My brother described that movie to me and from what I can tell the story line played out in film form would take my dream of being an astronaut completely away.  

And that's a feeling I never want to have.  

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If you haven't seen "Armageddon", I'm going to spoil it for you.

You've been warned.

The world is ending (perhaps the title was a bit of a hint??) because an asteroid is going to hit earth.  A team of oil drillers are sent into space to drill into the asteroid and blow it up.  After a series of unfortunate events, which mostly includes half of the crew dying, of the few men left one must stay behind to manually activate the bomb, and therefore die, as the others head back to the safety of earth.

The men draw straws, and Bruce Willis's character's soon-to-be-son-in-law gets the job of staying back.  In the end, Bruce pushes the son-in-law on board the space ship and sacrifices himself so that his daughter can have a good life with this man.

Around the horse's backside to get to his other ear, here is my point: self-sacrifice.  

I recently finished watching The History Channel's "The Bible".  Though I've been a Christian my entire life, seen passion plays and the movie "The Passion" more times than I can count, the following thought came to me for the first time as I watched this series.  

Pilate gives the people a choice.  It is Passover, he has the ability to release one prisoner to them.  He offers them the choice of Jesus or Barabbas a known murderer.  He is hoping, in fact assuming, that they will pick Jesus.  The man hadn't hurt anyone.  He had only claimed to be Christ the King.  

The people instantly choose Barabbas.  

Can you imagine Barabbas standing there hearing the people screaming for him?  Knowing that he had murdered. Knowing that he had sinned.  Looking over at Jesus who hadn't murdered, and hadn't sinned.

Reenactment of Jesus praying in the garden, knowing he is about to be betrayed.

What must it be like to be on the other end of self-sacrifice?  To be the one who has been sacrificed for?

To be the son-in-law headed back to earth knowing your father-in-law is about to explode with an asteroid so you can love his daughter and take care of her?

To be a murderer who is set free, while you look upon an innocent man who will be dying for your sins?

To be a child who grows up and is able to live their life because their teacher shielded them from gun fire as a maniac attacked their classroom?

The crucifixion of Christ.

If your life isn't short of spectacular, if you don't live every day to its fullest, if you don't do some sort of good for mankind, wouldn't it all be a waste?

For someone to have invested that much into you the best return you could possibly give is to use the gift you've been given to its absolute fullest.

The Resurrection of Christ.

While I can't imagine the weight of emotion that must come with witnessing someone sacrifice them self for me, I count myself among them, as you should too.

As I watched the end of the Bible series, I thought to myself, "Gee, the Bible never finishes that story of Barabbas.  What did he do after he had been set free?  Did he continue murdering?  Or did he recognize what Jesus had done for him?  Did he realize that an innocent man had just died in his place?  Did he turn his life around?  Did he use his life for good?"

My mind wandered to other moments of self-sacrifice in movies (clearly, from my Armageddon novel) and real life (recent shootings in Colorado and Connecticut).  I thought, "I can't possibly imagine what it is like to know someone died for me.  To have watched it happen before my eyes,"

No, I've not witnessed someone sacrifice their life for me.  I place that on a completely different level of impact and emotion.

But I do know someone has died for me.

I am Barabbas.

I am a sinner.  One of my least favorite expressions I hear people constantly say is, "I deserve this".  I deserve nothing but death.  Yet, I have been given an incredible gift: Life.

Someone has sacrificed everything they possibly could for me, taken the weight of every single one of my sins for me.  It is up to me if I choose to forget this, simply because it didn't happen before my eyes, or to embrace it by doing the most I can for others while I am on this earth.

You might not be a murderer, but you are Barabbas too.

Make your life count.