Sam was a birthday gift for Karisa when she turned 10 years old. He was a cute little Yorkshire Terrier, and Karisa loved him. They were soon the best of friends, and she often played with him outside in the yard.
But one day several months later, Sam disappeared from the yard. He didn’t come home when they called him. The family soon began a neighborhood search, looking for the little dog and calling him by name. Nobody they talked to had seen him, and he didn’t show up the next morning. Karisa was heartbroken.
The family posted notices around the neighborhood and on the bulletin boards in all the local stores. They called the police department and everybody they could think of to report Sam missing. But sadly, they never got a call about Sam being found or even seen. However,
Karisa didn’t give up hope that they would find Sam, but it never happened. She was sad for a very long time.
Some of you boys and girls have been lost, maybe in a store or in a park or elsewhere. That’s kind of scary. I’m sure it didn’t take your parents long to find you, and then everyone was happy again. But there is another way that every boy and girl is either lost right now or was lost and has been found by the Lord Jesus who loves each one of us. Have you heard about being lost in your sins? The Bible tells us about that. “The Son of Man [Jesus] is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:1010For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. (Luke 19:10)).
Every single person is a sinner, and all sinners are lost in their sins, until they come to Jesus in prayer to have their sins washed away in the blood He shed on the cross. “The blood of Jesus Christ [God’s] Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:77But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)). When your sins have been washed away in His blood, not only has He found you, but also He will take you to live with Himself in heaven when your time here on earth is over. That’s His promise to you. But until you have talked to Jesus about having your sins washed away, you are still lost, and those sins of yours will keep you out of heaven! That is even sadder than Karisa losing Sam.
Months went by and then a year. Still no word on Sam. Karisa and her family finally gave up all hope of ever finding him.
But then one day when Karisa was 15 years old, her mom got a phone call from an animal shelter in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. They told her that an animal control officer had just brought in a little, straggly dog he had found. The workers at the shelter were able to find the microchip on the dog to identify Karisa’s family as the owners! Her mother thought there was no way it could be Sam! He’d been missing for four years, and they live in Louisiana! Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is a thousand miles away! She didn’t see how it could be possible that the dog they had was Sam!
The shelter described the little dog as a Yorkshire Terrier, even though he was straggly and dirty and weighed less than six pounds. It was hard to believe, but it could only be Sam!
The little underweight, straggly dog was nursed back to health at the shelter until he was fit to fly home. Then one of the airlines flew the little lost dog home in “first class” for free—four years after he was lost. He landed in New Orleans on an 11:16 a.m. flight, and guess who the welcome committee was ... Karisa and her family! What a happy welcome he received!
Sam has been found. But have each of you boys and girls (including you grown-ups too) been “found” by coming to Jesus to have your sins washed away? If you haven’t, it’s important to settle that matter right away, before it’s too late! You will make the Lord Jesus and all heaven rejoice that another lost one has been found. “There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that [repents]” (Luke 15:1010Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth. (Luke 15:10)).
ML-09/06/2015