Launch Part Deux

Have you ever been lost?  I'm not talking about being shipwrecked or marooned on a deserted island.  When you were a little kid, did you ever get separated - even if it was just for an instant - from your mom or dad, like when you were at a store or someplace, and this wave of sheer terror washes over you as you realize that you are alone?  Have you ever experienced anything like that?  

Well here's the deal, that terror that washed over you, that fear that gripped you, that anxiety that made your heart pound through your chest and brought tears to your eyes is the REALIZATION OF SEPARATION.  And little brings greater fear for a human being.  

But did you know that the anxiety, the fear, the terror is the same (actually, worse) for the one you became separated from as it was for you?  The REALIZATION OF SEPARATION is ultimately even MORE painful for the one that's looking as it is for the one that's LOST.  

That's why, when they FIND you...the celebration is so GREAT!  When I was a kid it happened to me.  Looking back, the funny thing was my mother going back and forth between hugging the stuffing out of me and crying out, "I love you SO much!"  And grabbing me by the shoulders and with the sternest of warnings, yelling at me "Don't EVER do that again!"  

Ahh...the emotional roller-coaster of parenting!  What must it be like for our Father in Heaven who watches us try in vain to disappear from His view?  Though never truly LOST from His watchful eye, how all of heaven rejoices when we decide to step from our hiding place in the darkness into the light of His glory!  Woo-hoo!!  

Invite someone to LOVE this week.  It's going to be great!!