Lost in the Cookie Aisle

Have you ever been lost?  I remember when I was only 4 years old and I got lost at the grocery store.  You see, I didn’t keep up with my mom, I stayed in the cookie aisle upset that my mom wouldn’t buy my favorite cookies, which at that time were Aunt Sally cookies.  I know, an odd choice for a 4 year old, but I was a kid with rather distinctive likes and dislikes.  While I was protesting the fact that my mom wouldn’t buy the cookies I wanted, I didn’t notice that my mom had turned the corner and left the cookie aisle.  Well, when I realized that my mom was missing, I ran to the next aisle.  She wasn’t there either.  Then I started to cry.  A woman who was stocking the shelves asked me what was wrong and I said, “I’m lost.  I can’t find my mommy!”  Well, my mom heard my loud bellowing cries from 3 aisles over, as did the entire store, and my mom soon recovered her LOST child.

In his sermon this past week, Pastor Matt mentioned that we need to understand what it feels like to be lost.  Those of us who were “born” into a family of faith never really knew what it was like to be lost; to not have a relationship with Jesus Christ.  We live in a reality that never saw the “before.”  When I was the Alpha Director here at Calvary, we would have many unchurched, and dechurched people taking the course.  One of the biggest thrills for me was when I would see a person who was “lost” come to a realization of God in their life for the first time.  Their whole continence changed.  They were transformed!  They were changed forever. 

I still remember one man who came up for Communion on the Alpha Retreat several years ago and got on his knees on the floor in front of me.  With tears rolling down his face he lifted his hand and said – “I want Jesus!  I need Jesus!  Give me Jesus!”  You see, he had never know Jesus before the Alpha Course and on that retreat that day he gave his life to the God who lost His.  He was lost, but now he had been found and claimed by the Living Lord.

Listen to Jeremy Camp’s song, “Give me Jesus.”  I know every time I hear this song I remember that young man who knelt before me and declared his hunger and need for Jesus.  He was lost, but now he was found.

In His Grip,
Pastor Carol