\u00e2\u20ac\u0153What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/em> (Matthew 18:10-13)<\/p>\n My friend Dave called last week. We grew up together. I haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seen him in a few years \u00e2\u20ac\u201c he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s west coast, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m east. He had just returned from a writer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s conference in San Francisco, he was excited about it and he wanted to share. It was a good conversation.<\/p>\n It wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t always good. Dave has had a bumpy ride. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s made some bad decisions, had some bad luck and has taken some casualties along the way. There were times when he disappeared from my life and, honestly, I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know if he was alive or dead. Neither one of us are spring chickens and as the calendar worked its way toward the back page I wondered if he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d ever get over his hurdles and find some peace and purpose in life.<\/p>\n I like to say, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153God is faithful and He never gives up on a person.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/em> I like to believe it too. But, c\u00e2\u20ac\u2122mon, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a clock we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re working with here; at some point the game needs to wind down and God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s patience has got to wear thin. Mine certainly does. But, thank God, His patience is longer than mine, His faithfulness is greater than mine and He really doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t give up on those He considers His own.<\/p>\n God considers Dave one of His own.<\/p>\n It doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t matter how many days and years were lost. It doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t matter how far off the track one has wandered. It doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t matter how many bricks have been knocked down. Redemption is right there.<\/p>\n Jesus said that his Father in Heaven is happier about finding one sheep that has wandered off than about the ninety-nine who never strayed. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really not about anything we do, is it? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s about what He does. When we wander off, He finds us. And the angels rejoice.<\/p>\n I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know every wrinkle in Dave\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s story, but I do know that if God refused to quit searching until He found Dave again, then I know He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not going to give up on any other of his flock that may have wandered off. And that means that none of us that are \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcin the fold\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 should give up on the ones outside. It also means that we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d better hold the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dclost sheep\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 in the same regard as our Father does. God didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t choose us for how \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcgood\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 we are. He chose us because He chose us. And if one of us gets lost, He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s broken hearted. That means if one of us is lost we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d better be broken hearted too. And if a lost one ever gets found, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d better be rejoicing right along the angels.<\/p>\n My brother Dave called last week \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 it was a good conversation. <\/span><\/p>\n A Perfect Day<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/em><\/p>\n The Texas sun<\/em><\/p>\n Low and to our backs<\/em><\/p>\n Shining, through us,<\/em><\/p>\n On the road ahead<\/em><\/p>\n Leading up to camp<\/em><\/p>\n The day\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s work behind us<\/em><\/p>\n Walking side by side<\/em><\/p>\n No words between us<\/em><\/p>\n Brothers<\/em><\/p>\n A perfect moment;<\/em><\/p>\n A perfect memory<\/em><\/p>\n It was a perfect day<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00e2\u20ac\u0153See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.\u00ef\u00bb\u00bf \u00e2\u20ac\u0153What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[830,828,829],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gotpotential.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gotpotential.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gotpotential.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gotpotential.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gotpotential.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=480"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/gotpotential.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":498,"href":"https:\/\/gotpotential.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480\/revisions\/498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gotpotential.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gotpotential.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gotpotential.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.oilinisrael.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/Country-Road.jpg\")
<\/p>\n