"We Found You, My Child!"

“My child is missing!!” Can there be a more sinking feeling than when a parent realizes that harsh reality?

 During our trip to the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, Jill was waiting for our grandsons and I to return when she overheard a frantic mother trying to describe her two-year old daughter to a security guard.  The little girl was in her stroller while the parents were watching the fish swim and somehow, she managed to escape the stroller and was missing in a minute. Or was she abducted? The father was off looking for his precious child. Jill asked the mother for the daughter’s name and size and clothing description and offered to help in the search.

 As we started our drive through the rain on our way to Michigan, our grandsons safely seated behind us, a prayer went up for the missing girl.  Days later when we headed home Jill wondered out loud, “I just can’t stop thinking about that missing girl. How can we find out if they found her?”

 Then I read about Guo Gangtang. Mr. Guo had for 24 years, searched for his son who was abducted while playing outside their home as his mother was inside preparing a meal.  Mr. Guo wore out 10 motorcycles as he travelled throughout China in his search. This week the police were able to produce a DNA match for the lost child and the search was over. As the boy turned man met his parents in a three-way hug of a lifetime, Mom said, “My darling, my darling, my darling. We found you, my son, my son.” ( Parents Who Never Stopped Searching Reunite With Son Abducted 24 Years Ago By Vivian Wang and Joy Dong https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/14/world/asia/guo-gangtang-china)

 What is the work of the church and its community of believers? To listen for stories of lost children. To join in the desperate search for them, like a Shepherd who never stops looking for the one who wandered away; to be motivated by a love that outdoes even Mr. Guo’s relentless effort to find the Father’s lost children.

 God invites us to join in the search which we are assured ends with God wrapping every lost child in the best hug ever, while whispering (or shouting?) ‘We found you, my child!”