Missing Something

We don’t think much about things when we have them. If we lose those things, however, we realize how important they are when we need them. Think about the last time you misplaced your car keys. You didn’t realize you needed them until you knew they were lost. So maybe you went about your day without needing them until it was time to leave—and then you realized your keys weren’t where they should have been. The longer we go without finding our keys, the more our lives feel completely out of sorts. We might ransack the house or repeatedly retrace our steps. We experience so many different emotions: frustration, anger, hopelessness, anxiety. Then suddenly, we realize where the keys are. Most of the time, we can locate them in a place that makes sense but was not accessible to us in our searching. This is similar for people who are lost or out of place. Most of the time, they aren’t even aware they are “lost,” but Jesus knows. Just like when we’re looking around the house for our keys and being reminded of spots to look, Jesus sends his followers to help bring the lost back to the right place.