I'm That One - SOLD

Years ago when my youngest son, Adam, was 9 years old, he loved baseball cards.  One weekend there was a baseball card show at our local mall and I made plans to take him on a Saturday.  I remember we arrived early and we walked up to the mall hand in hand.  He was so excited and I was happy that he was happy.  I was filled with anticipation of a great day together.  We walked into the mall and I saw so many young boys already there, many of them I recognized as his school friends.  He saw them too and immediately dropped my hand and said, "See ya' later Mom!" and ran off.  I stood there, feeling a little rejected.  I thought, "Hey, I planned my whole Saturday around being with you.  I thought we were going to spend time together, not to mention the fact that I actually gave you birth and now you act like you do not even know me!" Needless to say, I found a chair in the middle of the mall and sat and waited for Adam to return.  

Two weeks later I was teaching a childbirth class and came home around 9:00 p.m.  My older two children were home but my husband and Adam were not. (This was before everyone had cell phones.) When I walked in, my daughter said, "Mom, Adam jumped off the couch and broke his arm and Daddy took him to the hospital".  Do you think I stopped and thought about the earlier experience at the mall and how he did not want me around then?  Do you think I thought about how I had felt rejected that day?  NO!  I drove like a crazy woman to the hospital and I ran in the doors of the emergency room.  Nurses were asking me, "Ma'am, can I help you?"  I ignored them and ran into the back of the emergency room and went from cubicle to cubicle until I found Adam.  His father was at a desk completing paper work and Adam was all alone in the room. He looked up at me with tears in his eyes and said, "Mom, it hurts."  I sat down beside him and gently pulled him close to me and said, "I'm here".  I think at that moment we both knew it was going to be ok.

I have thought back to that experience and it reminds me that when we are hurting, feeling alone, maybe feeling like we have been rejected, God comes to us.  He runs.  He pulls us close and He says, "I am here".

There is a parable Jesus told about a lost sheep.  "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?  And when he finds it, he joyfully puts him on his shoulders and goes home.  Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep'.  I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.  Luke 15: 4-7 NIV