Monday, March 20 – Luke 15
I’m going to be honest….I could speak on about 1,000 different things in regard to this topic of being a lost sheep. I mean, I am the minister of our Celebrate Recovery ministry and each week we see hundreds of people who are in the process of going from lost to found. And believe me, we celebrate that. Just recently, we celebrated another 24 people who completed the 9-month step studies and are on the road to a lifetime of recovery and leadership for our ministry. Our step studies will start again on March 20 with new people coming in and starting the process. We pray each week for the one who is still at home, thinking they don’t have a recovery area to work on. We pray that they will give recovery a try and “come home” to the church and be part of this amazing ministry. And we celebrate each life. Change is happening.
I have personally experienced going from lost to found. Being the one that was wandering and headed in the wrong direction. It wasn’t long after I got out of jail for drugs, in the late summer of 2004, that I felt like giving up. I felt like no matter what I did, I didn’t stand a chance. I was in Alpha on the day of the Holy Spirit retreat. I had a bad morning with bill collectors screaming at me. I had gone to work and had to work until noon. I had missed the majority of the retreat and went to my sister's house to cry. I left her house and had a choice. I could either turn left and go back to the world of drugs and destruction, or I could go to the church and give the last of the retreat a try. Something made me turn right and go to the church.
When I arrived, my small group came running up to me in celebration…"You’re here, you’re here!” they exclaimed. I didn’t understand why they cared or what the big deal was. I knew I was lost and I was exhausted. That’s when they told me they had just prayed for me….the whole Alpha retreat prayed for me. Pastor Mike looked at me and said, from the front, our lost sheep is found. I never went back to the life of destruction. I knew I was relentlessly pursued by the Holy Spirit that day.
When you have been found and set free from a life of destruction, you never ever have to go back. Whom the Son sets free, is free indeed, and that my friends is cause for a major celebration.
Questions for reflection:
- Have you ever felt like you were lost and didn’t feel worthy of being saved?
- Have you ever felt the power of prayer over your life?
- In what ways have you experienced God’s joy over a lost soul being found?