November 23
The One Who Goes
The whole premise for the name Ninety-Nine4One is based on the Parable of the Lost Sheep found in Luke 15:3-7. The story is told by Jesus of a shepherd leaving 99 sheep to find the one that was lost. The philosophy of Ninetynine4one is to seek the lost; “the one”, so to speak, and to bring them back to the fold.
But what I want to address today is not the lost sheep but the other subject of the story; the shepherd or the person who goes to find the one lost sheep.
What does that person look like?
I guess if you ask different people they will give a variety of answers. Some will over emphasize the need for training, stating that we need to first determine whether or not a person is “qualified” for the task and that we need to first train them before we send them. Others will over spiritualize the issue stating that first we must fast and pray and then decide when and what to do.
Well, in my humble opinion, training and prayer are never unimportant. I think what needs to happen, though, is when a need is obvious someone needs to act. If a person wanders away then someone needs to go after them. There is no training necessary just to love someone and we can always pray on the way!
So…what does the “one who goes” look like?
That person looks like a good friend and brother who I will refer to as C.F. Now, C.F. is far from perfect and has lived a few lifetimes. Colorful would be a good way to describe his life. The impressive thing about him is that at the end of his resume, so to speak, he chose Jesus and has been following him for several years. There is something about a person like C.F. who knows what he has been saved from and because of that knowledge he understands how lost people are without Christ. Here is an example:
C.F. and I we were driving around Las Vegas one day and I got a clear picture what type of person he really was. We were at a red light, and on this particular corner was a homeless woman. Her skin was leather like and she held a makeshift cardboard sign that pleaded for help.
Now, I have to admit, I was trying to avoid eye contact with her. But C.F. viewed this more as an appointment with destiny than just another beggar on the street.
He did not just respond. He was prepared to respond. C.F. reached into the compartment in his door and pulled out a stack of cards. He wrapped a dollar around one and then gave it to me to hand to her. I rolled down my window and handed the woman the card.
C.F. leaned down so he could see her and said, “If you go to the address the card, you can get something to eat and a shower for free!” The weather beaten woman gave him a toothless grin and said, “Well I am always looking for a shower.” C.F. smiled back and said, “Well, there you go! Jesus loves you & God Bless.” The light turned green and we left.
I witnessed a Ninety-Nine4One moment.
The second thing that I witnessed was when a man from our church sort of “fell off the wagon” and C.F. was there for him. It seems that the church leaders were tending to other matters and C.F. stepped in. He spent time on the phone with the wife, took the time to calm her and, in the end, went to the home of this despairing couple and prayed with them. C.F. was chasing the one who wandered off. There are other times when I’ve seen him step up and fulfill his destiny as a follower of Christ through e-mails, hallway conversations and relationship building. In other words, he walks in step with the Lord in searching for opportunities to bring back the one.
What do we learn from people like C.F.? Well, we learn that it isn’t our abilities that make great things happen and it isn’t our spirituality; it is out of our availability that great moments happen! Another way to put it would be: Do God stuff and God’s stuff happens.
This holiday season, while I am eating myself into a turkey coma, I am going to remember and be thankful for people like C.F. who understand that the Gospel message is more about the one who wanders away then the ones who are safe in the fold. The person who goes is someone who sees that the one lost soul is what breaks the heart of God. They see that we not only have responsibility for them we have been commissioned to GO and find them.
The “one who goes” looks like someone who is simply available. People just like you and me.
So what is stopping you from having the next the next Ninety-Nine4One moment?
The answer is, there is nothing stopping you. So get out there and GO!
Count on it—there’s more joy in heaven
over one sinner’s rescued life than
over ninety-nine good people in no need of rescue.
Luke 15:7
(The Message)