Summer reminder

I have several pairs of favorite summer shorts.  A few pairs are a little big, but I've kept them because I like them so much.  This pair of shorts is definitely my favorite!  I love the back pocket of my shorts.  The back pocket on the shorts have snaps that keep things from falling out.  Truly though, I don't typically put anything in my pockets.

But long ago (these shorts are about to tell their age!), in 2006, a boy returned to Ohio for a second summer visit.  He enjoyed Bible School so much, that we went to a second Bible School.  This second Bible school, he knew very few people, so he stayed close to his Mama.  One particular night, the lesson revolved around the Parable of the Lost Sheep (Matthew 18:12-14, Luke 15:1-7).  During the Bible lesson, the teacher talked about looking for lost things and how the things we treasured could not be measured in value.  After the lesson, the children got to sift through sand and look for missing treasures.

 That little boy found a blue heart.  He was so proud of the heart he found, he gave it to his Mama to hold on to.  The Mama put it into her back pocket and snapped it closed so that the heart would be safe until after Bible School ended that night.  After Bible School that night, that boy's Mama gave the heart back to him.  His response to her was "No Mama, I found it and gave it to you.  I want you to keep it.  It's from me."  And so, his Mama kept it.  Safe in her back pocket.

Each summer I get a great reminder of the (not so) little man we grew to love, and still love today.  This reminder makes me a little sad at times--knowing that we have missed so much of that boy's life.  It reminds me of the heartache we experienced in 2007.  It also reminds me of the hope we have that some day, we will be able to make this not so little boy a part of our family.

Matthew 18: 12 says "... If a man owns a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? In Luke, chapter 15, the Parable of the Lost sheep is told again.  Luke 15:5-6 says "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' "

In so many ways I feel like that shepherd.  I have two children at home whom I love with all my heart, but the day that our boy went home, he was like the lost sheep in the Bible story.  We vowed that somehow, some way, we would find our way back to him.  We kept our hearts focused on him, even though he was far away.  So much in our lives has changed, and in his life too.  And yet, the love we share remained the same.  I cannot wait for the chance to gather our friends and family and say to them 'Rejoice with me!  I have found my boy, and he is home with us forever'.