Prodigal

        Many times in my own life, I have judged myself. Judged by critical standards and by soft, far too forgiving standards. I have run from authority, and run toward it for shelter after doing something dumb or immature. The one thing that my parents gave me as a gift, without financial cost or my working to earn, was the acceptance that they had for me being me. Not that they looked the other way when I was wrong, they didn't. They usually let me know it when I was doing something of concern to them. Unfortunately that didn't always translate to me making a change or doing what they wanted, there are sure some pitfalls that I could have saved myself from drowning in. But that's life, that's learning, and sometimes, that's painful.

         In our lives there will be paths that we must walk alone. Sometimes they will be hurt, and sometimes we just chose the wrong one. You and I have both done that; we have been on a path toward destruction, one that could have ended up very badly for us. Somewhere, hopefully you made a change, saw a way out, a light at the end of your tunnel. However, perhaps you still live in fear and darkness, I tell you that many days I feel as you do in that dreadfully murky place. The future is easy to obscure, and hope is a fragile thing when life reminds us that we are not in charge. When we put our hope in finances or careers that can disappear quicker than they are earned, we run the risk of opening the doorway to disappointment and losing our real self-worth. Likewise, failing to spend time with family and friends can leave us feeling unloved, and desperate. Or maybe you're not getting along with a spouse, parent or child, what happens to those whom we know if we give up? Is it us that are lost, or those that we disagree with? Have you hurt someone while on this path or been hurt through someone else's choice to walk away or their direct intention to cause you pain?
  Regardless of the source, there is peace and shelter for your heart. There is also a guide to how to deal with those who are lost, or adrift in life's sea of despair. If you are the ship sailing with no direction and no anchor, there is hope and grace for you too. But maybe your asking, why should anyone care? Why do I write to you when I don't know you? And especially, why would God care what happens to a person that has chosen to walk away from the love and warmth of a family or God? 

        While Jesus was in ministry in and around Jerusalem, he often angered the religious leaders of that time by teaching and hanging out with ordinary people, and on occasion eating with that crowd of "sinners". A crowd that the leaders deemed unworthy of such direct contact, if Jesus was indeed who he said that he was, or even just a temple rabbi. They looked at such non-clean people as unimportant and lower class. When Jesus got the chance to tell them why, he said something like this, if you had a flock of animals that were making your living with, and meant everything to the survival of your household, you wouldn't want to lose even one of them. In fact if you did find one missing,  you would leave the other 99 in good care and go to attempt to retrieve the one that was lost. Without a doubt, you would even be happy or celebratory about getting back the one that was lost. His point was this, why wouldn't he be trying to reach out to the lost? More over, why is it not surprising to us, those cast aside by "the religious", that the leadership of the church or local government wasn't happy with him. This meant that they would have to share their power; but more than that, it would have meant that they shared their importance and status with the lowly public. Those motives of judgment aren't old or new to this world, there was self indulgent greed then, and there still is today. But a true shepard, isn't worried about losing power or prominence, it's about finding the lost.
  Now back to you and I, it should be a little more obvious now what kind of attitude that we need to have when it comes to seeking and serving the hurting, the abandoned, and the lost. No matter what stage of despair or regret that you and I find ourselves in, there is grace and hope in the shepard, Jesus. Our torn and raggedy lives are the very thing he seeks to renew. But how do we do that for others when we are ragamuffins ourselves? How will people look at us when we try to help someone else from the heap of our own ruins? Well first of all, get your heart in the right place, make sure that you're not seeking something in return; helping others isn't about the reward, although there will be one. If you seek the reward most of all, your help will be as worthless as an umbrella of mesh in a downpour. If your motives are righteous, that means without greed or self grandiosity, then don't worry about what others think or say. That isn't to say that good council shouldn't be listened to, you should always seek the ear and wisdom of someone that you know and trust to keep you accountable and on task. But the nay-sayers, let them scoff at you for your efforts, you're in good company. Remember that the religious leaders hated Jesus because he sought out the meek and the hurting, no matter if they were the "in" crowd or not.
  If you are like me, long before now you have asked the important question of why. Why do we need to help each other? Why do we need to change at all? Why does God want us to do this seeking for Him, can't He do it? And why Randy, do you write these irritating questions? I'm not sure that I can answer the last one, but the first questions are a little easier. In  John 21: 15-19, Jesus asked John one question, three separate times. He asked John if John loved him. Each time John answered, Jesus replied with feed my sheep, to the immediate irritation of John I might add, it was as if the group of them needed to know the simplicity of the message and the mission. Find those in need, do something about it. Paraphrased here as: Live as a follower of Christ, serve as best you can to find and "feed" the lost, and love one another as brothers and sisters in one big family. It seems to be that middle one that really gives people the most trouble, serving.
       Thinking again of the prodigal story, I am reminded of the father running out to meet his son. His son was dirty, smelled like a barnyard, and hadn't even uttered any words of apology, yet his father met him on the road, with a big hug and kiss. Tell me again how you and I can't have grace and forgiveness because of what we have done in our past. Time after time, Jesus told his disciples to go, feed my sheep, go and make others like yourself. He taught them not to look at the outside, and that sin was sin, call it what it is, forgive the ragged sheep, and bring them home.
        I know that each of us have our idea of what God must think of us. The truth is, in his eyes we are as filthy as any drugged out prostitute, or as unlovable as an abuser of others, but through the sacrifice of His son, and His representation of our lives before the Father, we each become the perfection that is only found through being born again. It's not science or science fiction, it's not something that you show someone in your hand, but it's as real as the sun that warms the daytime. We are all prodigal children. Sometimes we are the sheep needing to be found, and other times we are the ones doing the finding, I think that's all in God's plan. He uses us right where we are, still a little dirty from the barnyard of life. And without a pedigree of whose at the top of the list and whose at the bottom. Read the passage in John 21 again, go ahead, I'll wait. It's one description for all of the lost; I read nothing in there about the really nice award winning sheep getting priority or the ugly, half bald, sheep getting pushed to the back of the line. Just all of us raggedy sheep in this together, and one Father ready to run down the road and meet us at the point when we realize that we can go home to him. Whether you are searching for sheep, walking the prodigal path back towards home, or still feeding the pigs in the slop, never judge others by the way they look on the outside, and don't stop thinking of yourself as a child of the King. He said that he stands at the door of every prodigal heart and knocks, hoping to find each and every one of His lost and hurting raggedy children, a status and mission by the way, which you and I both share.

Luke 15: 6 / John 21: 15-25