Recently my five year old boy came into the room with a look of desperation and exasperation on his face.

Before I could even ask him the obligatory parenting question, “what’s wrong?”, he cried out, “Can you help me find Jesus?”

Needless to say, I was caught off guard. I certainly wasn’t expecting this question at this particular moment in time. Could my little guy really be asking me about salvation? He had shown no signs of genuine interest in “spiritual” things at his young age.

Nonetheless, I was ready to share the Gospel with him. You could tell I was ready by my deeply theological response…

“Huh?”

Jacob repeated, “Can you help me find Jesus? I’ve lost the Jesus card.”

Then I realized what he was talking about. We have a discipleship game that has cardboard pieces. One of the gamepieces is a small card that has the word “Jesus” printed on it, and apparently it was missing.

“Yes, I sure can.” With a little bit of pointing in the right direction, Jacob soon found the Jesus card he was looking for. (And I continue to long for the day when He finds THE Jesus as Savior of His life!)

You know, it’s not only Jacob, but there are countless others who walk into our lives with that same look of desperation and exasperation on their faces.

They may never utter the words with their lips, but surely if we listen, we can hear their very lives crying out to us, “Can you help me find Jesus?”

That lonely recluse who lives down the road is crying out. So is that pregnant teenager. And the prostitute. And the drunkard.

That obnoxious co-worker that no one can stand is crying out. So is the friendly, moral grandmother who always does everything just right.

There are teachers and students, husbands and wives, employees and employers, teammates and coaches. There are close friends and casual acquaintances. There’s the clerk at Wal-Mart, the barber, and the librarian. The guy standing next to you in the elevator and the girl in front of you in the grocery store checkout line.

They’re crying out with their lives, “Can you help me find Jesus?”

How will we respond? Will we nod our heads politely, maybe offer a puzzled “huh” and move on with our busy lives? Or, will we point them in the right direction and lead them to Jesus?!

There are people all around us, desperate and exasperated, just like my son Jacob.

Only they’re not looking for a piece of cardboard, they’re looking for peace of mind. They’re not searching for something missing from a game, they’re searching for something missing from their lives. It’s not a part to fill the void in a boardgame, but rather it’s a Savior to fill that Godshaped hole in their dry, thirsty souls.

They’re crying out, “Can you help me find Jesus?” May we be ready with an answer: “Yes, I sure can!”

Jimmy Brown jimmy@Living4Jesus.comhttp://www.living4jesus.com/