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THE GREAT HOMECOMING MIRACLE! March 17, 2003 an---Have a Wonderful week! ] Greetings from Peg's Place! It has been awhile since we published a page and we hope that this one will bless you as it has us. Our new page: "Nobody Ever Asked John To Come" If our pages bless you please give God the glory. May the Lord bless and keep each of you. His Because of Grace,
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ TODAY'S "TALK"---smile... THE GREAT HOMECOMING MIRACLE!
It was such good news that it literally pushed Iraq right out of the headlines on every cable news channel. With war possibly only days away, a joyful, tearful reunion suddenly burst into the news and overshadowed the clouds of war---15-year-old Elizabeth Smart has been found alive! It's not the kind of happy ending we've come to expect when a young girl is missing for a long time - nine months in this case. That's why her family---almost giddy with joy---continued to call Elizabeth's safe return nothing less than a miracle. Their joy is a reminder to all of us to pray for all the lost children who haven't come home---and for the loved ones who wait in that agonizing emotional wilderness between hope and despair. And the prayers that have sustained the Smart family all these painful months will be needed just as much in the months to come as they recover from the trauma of their ordeal. Today, though, it's all about joy---from the hundreds of "welcome home" balloons decorating their neighborhood to the hugs and tears and laughter of an almost unbelievable reunion. The celebration of someone lost coming home is not unique, though, to one excited family in Utah. There are some who celebrate the miracle of a loved one for whom there seemed little medical hope - and who made it home safely. Others have seen a son or daughter, or even a husband or wife, drift away from things they once held sacred into things that broke a lot of hearts. And then, in answer to many desperate prayers, they came home. And, by God's grace, we pray that those who have tearfully left those they love for a possible war will soon return safely to the arms that released them to go. The jubilation and relief of the Smart family is, in a way, a picture of every happy homecoming, those already realized and those still hoped for. It is even reminiscent of homecoming joy the Bible describes as taking place in heaven itself! Jesus Christ illustrated the greatest homecoming parable of all with a parable: "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not 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 it 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..." (Luke 15:4-7) Imagine---a party in heaven in your honor, in my honor. When we finally come home to the One who loves us most, to the God who made us. It is heaven's hope that every one of God's lost children will come home to the Relationship we were made for. We are, in God's words, "lost." That's lost, as in away from our Heavenly Father, doing our thing instead of His thing. "Sin" is what God calls this defiance of His authority over how we live, this spiritual wandering that has made us each a missing child. He says in His Book: "We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way..." (Isaiah 53:6) Like any lost child, we miss the One we've wandered away from ... we're lonely and confused about which way to go ... we're afraid of the growing darkness around us. And like a Utah teenager, kidnapped from her safe place, our only hope is a rescue. In a news conference held only hours after Elizabeth Smart's return, her aunt said, "Thank the Lord God Almighty!" That Lord is the only One who can bring you and me home safely, too. Because He gave everything He had to rescue us from the eternal lostness that awaits every unforgiven sinner. That same verse in the Bible that talks about our wandering away like sheep also announces the awesome news of God's rescue---"...and the Lord has laid on Him (speaking of Jesus) the iniquity (or wrongdoing) of us all." (Isaiah 53:6) Those words speak of the greatest act of love in human history---that awful Roman cross where God's one and only Son took on Himself all the guilt and shame and hell of your sin and mine. That "Father, forgive them!" that Jesus shouted from His cross included me. It included you. If you'll turn from a life of lostness and reach out to Jesus as your personal Rescuer from your personal sin. Church can't rescue you from an eternal death penalty. Religion can't. Christianity can't. Only Jesus can - because only Jesus paid the price to bring you home. And that's what heaven waits for, just as surely as the parents of a missing child hopes and prays for the one they love to come home safely. In heaven, they realize what it cost Jesus to cancel our hell and give us His heaven. They saw the Son of God leave heaven on His rescue mission---and they saw Him return with something He didn't have when He left---nailprints in His hands and feet, a spear wound in His side. And in heaven, they realize what's at stake as you read these words, as you decide what you will do with the Savior who died for you. They know eternity is at stake. That's why all heaven breaks loose with rejoicing when one of us missing children grabs the rescuing hand of Jesus. They know every sin has been forgiven and every doubt about you being in heaven has been forever erased. Jesus comes looking for us missing kids wherever we are - even at our computer, browsing the Internet. It could be He's come looking for you, right where you are. So you can finally be safe, finally be home. This very day, the celebration in heaven could be for you. To subscribe to "A Word With You," send a blank email to: awordwithyou-subscribe@hutchcraft.com -------------------------------------------------------------------- If you're not sure you belong to Jesus, and you would like to make sure today, Ron would like to send to you, without obligation, a free copy of the booklet, "Yours for Life: How to Have Life's Most Important Relationship." To read the online version:
OR, to request your free copy of "Yours for Life," click here:
OR, to request your free copy of "Yours for Life," click here:
Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.
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