Are You the 1?

As a child I thought family reunions are something that every family did. Somewhere between adolescence and being an adult I lost that train of thought. So the result is that I didn’t go for a long time, 31 years for my Moms side of my family. To cut to the chase I finally went to my mother’s side family reunion 3 years ago. Man I can’t begin to tell you how much fun I had. I saw cousins and aunts that I hadn’t seen for 35 - 40 years. Some of them weren’t at the last few reunions I did go to, for those of you that are doing the math. I saw my uncles and some of my aunts and my bride said to me, I see where you get your body shape. The other thing I noticed was that we’ve all gotten older and fatter present company included.

The coolest thing though was I saw my family legacy of serving God that had been passed down to me by not only my parents, but my aunts, uncles, and grandparents as well. I sat with my cousin Moe and talked to her for over an hour. Now when I was younger and very full of myself I didn’t particularly like her. I thought she was mean, but as I look back she just wasn’t going to put up with the likes of me. Yes it’s hard to believe, but I haven’t always been the humble, kind, generous man that I am today. Are you ready to vomit yet, truthfully I was a handful and as my friend Pastor Mike Johnson says, my orbit was pretty small. I thought life revolved around me. As I look back she showed me a lot of grace that I didn’t deserve. Anyway back to Moe, she told me about cousins that had been sick, and they were prayed for and they got well. The same was true for friends of hers. I was able to tell about how great God has been in my life, and just a small portion of the things God has done for our family.

I read in my bible a couple of days ago, when Jesus was talking to a group of the in crowd of his time who were very full of themselves. In Luke chapter 15 verses 1-7. He talks about a man who has 100 sheep and he loses one of them. He asks do you leave the 99 and go look for the one. You bet he does he goes out and finds the one. When he finds the one, he picks it up and takes it back to the other 99 sheep. The he goes even farther he calls his friends and neighbors and says to them come and party with me I’ve found my 1 lost sheep. Then Jesus goes on and says “there is more partying in heaven over 1 sinner who repents than over the 99 that didn’t need to repent.

You know God is always looking for the 1 person that is lost and needs help. When he finds them all the 1 lost person needs to do is ask God to forgive them of their sins, and come into their heart and accept the free gift of salvation. Come on you can do it all you do is ask.

Are you the 1?