"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?...For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found."  (Jesus)

This is classic "lost and found."  But notice:  The shepherd went looking for the lost sheep, and in the case of the son, "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him...."  You don't see someone, "a long way off," unless you are looking for him.

The first can be classic evangelism, looking for those who have never surrendered their lives to Jesus Christ.  The second is "one of our own," a fellow Follower of Jesus who went astray.  The question which looms large in me today is, What am I doing about both?  The danger in us is to accept what is, not what should be.

Father, in Jesus' Name, help me to be a, "fisher of men," and a, "while he was afar off," actively-looking-for brother.  Amen.

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Article on Germany and illegal immigrants at:  jhs58.blogspot.com

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

Hebrews 12:2