Last Sunday evening, just before dusk settled and night waned, the young son of dear friends (from our Rift Valley Academy days in Kenya) got lost in the Sand Dunes National Park not far from us here in Colorado. In winter. All night. We were to have lunch with them on Monday. When his mama sent me the text message, we began to pray...hard! All night. Nothing is scarier, I don't think, than having a child come up missing. My heart ached for Caleb, for his daddy (Danny), his mama (Faith) and sister (Viola). I couldn't imagine what they were experiencing. When morning dawned, the search and rescue sent out aircraft with infrared hoping to find him. Somehow, though, Caleb made his way to the highway, and a State Trooper passing by found the little six year old. What sweet relief! What a flood washed over my soul as I read the words, "Caleb has been found and is OK!" Lost is excruciating. Found is, well, joyful (as in filled with expression: rejoicing)!
I've been lost. Literally. Spiritually. I've also been found. My being found was equally filled with rejoicing. For a while...until I forgot the despair of being lost. Until I took for granted being found.
Isn't that a sad indictment?
Caleb's "found-ness" came when I needed a big boost of reminding just how found I am because of the cross of Christ.
Dr. Luke wrote these words (Message Paraphrase): "...it's not what you do for God, but what God does for you - that's the agenda for rejoicing (Luke 10:20)."
The Apostle Paul wrote frequently about rejoicing, and as you read his epistles to the churches, almost always pointed their reason for rejoicing back to the cross, what The Lord had done, the Good News!
As I've been studying "joy" and how to create space for joy to reside in me, God brought me back to the cross. Fitting, I think, during this Lenten season. As a result, I've been deeply convicted. My ability to find joy-in-me is in complete connection to my ability to remember my found-ness. The more I return to the foot of the cross, the more meaningful my salvation. The more meaningful my salvation, the more joy! It's a cycle I must keep up - regularly and often.
I'm afraid I have tamed salvation in me. I've put it like a lion in a nice cage, and walked by from time to time to check on it. Maybe I even throw it a little meat from time to time, and fill the water trough. However, lions aren't meant to be "zooed." They are meant to run through savannas, voraciously feed on meat they kill for themselves, and drink deeply from rushing rivers. It's time for me to uncage the lion of salvation in me. Let it run; feed on the meat of the Word (found in the joy of discovery); drink deeply of living water; and, by all means, let it ROAR!
May I return daily to the cross, remembering:
- just how very, very lost I was (& believe me, I was extremely LOST!)
- the fulness of forgiveness, mercy, and grace that covered me
- the shame God buried
- the freedom I hold dear
- the found-ness I experience in His love
- the new identity He has given me
- the gifts of the Spirit He has imparted
- the eternal life I will obtain
All = JOY! Let it ROAR!
.XXXX.
After writing this blog, a friend posted this picture on her website, without knowledge of what I'd just written. Fitting, I think:
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