Lost and Found

Last night I received a call from my son, Max.  He sounded sad.  Gracie, his two-year-old daughter and my granddaughter, had lost “Baby Sad”, her favorite doll.  Since I live closer to the grocery store where “Baby Sad” was thought to have been lost, he asked if I could try and find her.  He had already called the store, but she had not yet been found.

I quickly scanned the nearly empty, dark parking lot before going inside, and then I inquired at the customer service desk.  No “Baby Sad”.  When I told the young woman behind the counter that I’d be looking around the store, she called two staff members over and asked them to help.  As they headed in one direction, I informed them I would start at the other end.  I expected to meet at least one of them halfway as I carefully, yet quickly scanned each aisle.  I’m not sure if they had to help another customer and/or lost interest, but I continued the search alone.

My son called to find out if I’d made any progress, but I had to let him know I still hadn’t found her.  As I continued to search the other end of the store and stopped once again at the service desk, he and I discussed getting another doll just like “Baby Sad”.  Before heading home, I decided to check the shopping carts.  I looked through the three rows of carts in the store’s entrance, and just as I was about to walk out and check the carts outside, there was “Baby Sad”!  I found her!  It looked as though she’d been tossed into a tall, blue handicap cart against the wall.

As I was driving “Baby Sad” back home to her family’s apartment and thought about the event, I was reminded of the account when Jesus told the Pharisees a parable and then explained that He is the Good Shepherd, who lays His life down for His sheep, but a hired hand flees in the face of danger, because he doesn’t care enough about the sheep.  (John 10:11-14)  When we or someone we love loses something important, we will search diligently until we find it or until we are certain we did everything we could to find it.  The two ladies, who were called upon to help me search for “Baby Sad”, do not know me or Gracie.  Although they might have some idea what it’s like when a child loses a favorite toy or blanket, finding “Baby Sad” wasn’t as important to them as it was to me.

I once was lost, too, but Jesus found and rescued me.  I’m so glad He never gives up.