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“If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost?” (Matthew 18:12 NLT)
Her name was Mou Mou, and she was a stray.
Where she strayed was the crumbling house, nestled next door to the house my wife and I rented. As we sat on our front porch eating lunch, we heard her meowing. I suppose the aroma of the fried chicken attracted her. My wife, a cat lover, threw her a few pieces of chicken. Although this little stray was skittish, a few pieces of chicken soon warmed her up to us.
Before long, she strayed over to our front porch. Since she meowed continuously, her name was easy to come by. Then one morning as I opened the front door, she didn’t greet me as she always had. There were signs of a scuffle. Perhaps a dog. Our little stray was nowhere to be found. We searched but with no luck.
Like the shepherd who leaves the rest of the flock to search for the one stray, God owns the business of searching. While the shepherd, like us, might not always locate the stray, God always finds the person He’s looking for.
“If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost” (Matthew 18:12 NLT)?
I’ve been a stray on quite a few occasions. I was a stray before my father told me how much God loved me and wanted to have a relationship with me. God found me. I became a stray again during my teenage years when I strayed into territories believers shouldn’t tread.
God searched for me by pricking my conscience. He found me when I decided to listen and let Him take me back to the flock. And there have been times when it wasn’t sin that caused me to turn into a stray. Financial meltdowns, broken relationships, gossip, rebellious children, and death accomplished the same. But God was just as faithful to search for me when such times stole my time and focus.
Regardless of why you stray, God is faithful to search for you and bring you back to the safety of the flock
What are some things that tempt you to stray?
Martin Wiles
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