One cold November day when we were playing hide in seek in the house, my brother hid really well. We could not find him, so we went to ask my mother to help us. We looked under beds, in closets, and any other place that we could think of. My dad came home from work and he helped search too, but my brother was nowhere to be found. The sun was beginning to set and a light drizzle began to fall and the temperatures were dropping. My mother was frantic. She had a new baby and several other children who needed her care, so she could not leave the rest of us to join in the search.
The neighbors came, some to chatter and drink tea or coffee, but most searched in the woods, in neighboring fields and properties, yet he could not be found. They called his name over and over again, yet there was no response. For hours they searched. The fire department came and joined in the search, but they could not find him either.
Finally, while the house was in an uproar, the babies were crying, I slipped away to do my own search of the house....and I found him, but nobody would believe me! My mother was on the phone with the police when I made my way through the noisy crowd of neighbors and firemen.
"Mommy," I said in my little girl voice as I tugged on her skirts, "I found him,"
"Shhh...." she said frustrated and a bit overwhelmed.
I shrugged my shoulders and made my way through the crowd again. I got down on the floor and looked my brother in the eye and said, "You're going to be in big trouble. Mommy is calling the police!"
I grabbed his hand and pulled him from under the bed where he was lodged between boxes. (He had crawled between the boxes and fell asleep. They had searched that room and even moved the bed, but when they did, the boxes moved with the bed and shifted his sleeping form along with the boxes.) However, if they would have done what I did and gotten down on their hands and knees, they would have found him. I pulled him along with me as we made our way back out to my mother....
I tugged on her skirt again, "See, Mommy, I found him." I said as she gasped and told the police dispatcher to never mind, that he was found. She told me today when I asked her about the incident that she didn't know whether to hug him or spank him. Her lost child had been found. Gunshots were sounded into the air. The sirens blared so that those hunting for him would know that he had been found. There was a real celebration going on!
Some may think they hide so well that God will never find them. Adam and Eve hid in the garden because they had sinned and were ashamed, yet God knew exactly where to look. He knows where we are, too. He knows our deepest darkest secrets and He will never turn us away.
He is seeking for you, too. Many have gone before you (the great cloud of witnesses) and are cheering you on. You do not have to hide any more. The Good Shepherd will lift you up into His arms and lead you to safety.
Jesus is seeking for anyone who is not in His fold. He will do whatever it takes to bring you into His Kingdom. Heaven is ready for the celebration. Are you?
Thanks for reading.
Donna McHugh
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