Wednesday night as I was sitting in one of the recruitment events for Sigma Alpha Omega, a Christian sorority at my school, the hopeful sisters of mine delivered a commentary on a sermon in which they had heard at Passion 2014. The sermon was delivered by Christine Caine and it discussed the idea of being everything God has called you to be. Being that I am the person I am and find great enjoyment out of listening to sermons and various speeches, I just had to listen to some of Caine's sermons. I YouTubed her name and found the speech that she gave 2 years prior at Passion 2012. I only got five minutes into the speech until God spoke to me.
Caine was talking about how statistics dehumanize people and take away the magnitude of suffrage going on. She then brought up her own personal experience and this is where it hit me. A few years ago when Madeline was taken, Caine brushed it off until the name Sophia {one of Caine's daughter's name} was the name of a girl on a poster hanging by Madeline's poster, then suddenly the story was personal to Caine. She said that she once lost her daughter for 5 minute and how frantic and crazy she looked trying to find her. Her quote: "When something changes from a number or a statistic or someone on a poster to mine, everything changes. What wouldn't I do to find my girl, if that was my daughter? What wouldn't I give up? I remember we lost Sophia once in London on Oxford street for less than five minutes in a book shop. I ran out on Oxford street, I am standing on a mailbox screaming for my daughter. What wouldn't you do if it was your child that was lost? If it was your sister? If it was your... What wouldn't you do? You wouldn't care what you looked like, you wouldn't care what you'd have to give. You would do anything to rescue the one." And as I was listening to this quote it reminded me of a passage in Luke where Jesus confronts the Pharisees after they accused Him of welcoming sinners and eating with them {Luke 15:2}. Jesus goes on to deliver three parables of the lost sheep {Luke 15:3-7}, the lost coin{Luke 15:8-10}, and the parable of the lost son {Luke 15:11-31}. The parables lent to the simple idea that if even one soul is saved, Heaven will rejoice, no matter how significant that soul seems to us. The speech combined with the bible verses and an earlier conversation with a good friend made me wonder "What am I doing to find the lost?"
I admit many of the times the first sight of a child being missing churns my stomach but soon I push it to the back of my radar and move forward. I do the same thing when I think about the lost. According to Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, in 2010 2.18 billion people claim to be Christians in the World, which in 2010 was 1/3 of the world, that means 2/3 of the world is lost. 4.72 billion people are going to hell and spending eternity there, that is assuming that the 1/3 of the population who claims to be Christians were actually saved Christians. Yet,what am I doing?
Today while eating lunch with my good friend, Meredith, her and I discussed our testimony for SAO. I was telling her how most of my "lost years" I knew I was running from God. I knew what God wanted for my life and yet I ran and was ashamed of Him. I then went on to say even in my Christian walk I find my self still running from Him {I'm stubborn} often. Meredith made a profound statement, she said "Well we all are, technically we should be able to stand up and shout the gospel right now, but we don't." I mean in a very stupid excuse for not shouting the Gospel, we have been conditioned that doing so is unacceptable in today's culture, even so if we use this excuse what stops us from sharing the Gospel in a more intimate fashion. I mean sure, a majority of my friends know where I stand in my walk. But yet, what am I doing?
I imagine that if my cousins Jordan or Allie or my brother were kidnapped or missing, I would do anything, stop at nothing and risk everything to get them home. Our attitude towards the lost should be the same. Each of those 4.72 people who are lost, are our brothers and sister, they are missing from our Father's home. Are we risking our status, comfort or safety to find the lost? Are we going to the ends of our town, our state, our country, or the earth to tell them? Are we treating them like our lost brothers and sister who are hopeless, scared, and in the dark? Most likely we aren't, at least I know I am not. It's difficult and uncomfortable, I know. However, our Father stopped at nothing, risked everything and did everything to get us back. The least we can do is tell the 4.72 about it.
-Amanda
Resources for this blog:
Christine Caine's Passion 2012 Speech
Luke 15
Pew Forum
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