Mountain Rescue Team

 Luke 15:4 “ “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?”

 If Jesus was teaching near the mountains of Colorado:

 “Suppose one hiker on a nearby mountain is lost or falls. Wouldn’t my people race into the mountains find him, expending all their strength and skill to bring him home? I tell you, there is no greater comfort to loved ones than to know their lost son has been found.”

 On September 7, 2022, the Alamosa Volunteer Search and Rescue Team received a distress call from hikers that Justin, a young but experienced mountain hiker, tragically fell 300 feet to his instant death. Caring hikers marked the place, standing watch until the rescue team arrived. Today, because of their caring acts, and the brave, heroic efforts of the Alamosa team to carry Justin’s body up from the place he fell, the family has the comfort of knowing he is not lost.

 We can send Justin home to Jesus.

 We, the church of Jesus Christ, are called to search the wilderness, the mountains, bringing the lost home.

What God Sees in You

 1 Samuel 16:7b “The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

 Sometimes God’s ‘ask’ seems impossible for us. But God does not ask you to do anything, to take on any task or responsibilities that you cannot do with God’s help.

 If you judge your capabilities using the standards the world uses, you may feel inadequate to the task. Perhaps on your own you are. But when God chooses you, anoints your head as God’s servant, you will find the courage and strength to accomplish God’s call.

 Doing God’s will is rarely easy or ‘fun’ in the worldly sense.  Yet faithfully doing God’s will brings rewards that the world cannot offer.

 What does God see in you that the world does not see? Your heart. Your heart for God’s people. Your heart for the disenfranchised, the lonely, the mourners, the little children.

 If God is calling you into a new or a difficult role of service examine your heart.

 Saying ‘yes’ to God means ‘putting your heart’ into the call. God knows the strength of your heart. Do you?

Where Alan Waits

 Leaves of Grass/Song of Myself, 52, by Walt Whitman (excerpt)

I depart as air, I shake my white locks at the runaway sun,
I effuse my flesh in eddies, and drift it in lacy jags.

I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love,
If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles.

You will hardly know who I am or what I mean,
But I shall be good health to you nevertheless,
And filter and fibre your blood.

Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged,
Missing me one place search another,
I stop somewhere waiting for you.

 My good and faithful friend, Alan, I miss you. I miss your stories and secrets. You prepared your beloved wife and sons and, oh, that grandbaby, for this day. But they miss you, more than I know. Your many friends, such dear, dear friends you had, they miss you. You and they know why. We all miss you, gone too soon from this earth.

 We will all be inspecting the fibers of our boot-soles for evidence of the place you have stopped to wait for us to find you. Until then, my wonderful friend, Shalom!