There is a story of a little girl who lived by the edge of the forest. One evening she began exploring. Some wild flowers caught her attention, then some mushrooms and a little further into the forest a broken tree that she walked on like a balancing beam. Before she knew it, the sun was starting to set and she lost her bearings. What she thought was the way home turned out to lead her farther from home. As darkness set in, tears began to flow.
When her father realized that the sun had set and his daughter wasn’t in the house, he began looking and calling for her. After an hour, he called some family and friends and they continued to search into the night. Just before midnight, most of the search party dispersed, but the father never stopped looking for his little girl.
The daughters tears continued as branches with thorns bloodied her legs. After hours of walking and calling out, she fell into sleep utterly exhausted.
When the sun came up, her father was still searching. He came to a clearing and saw at a distance his little girl asleep on a rock. The father shouted her name as he ran to embrace her. She woke up hearing her father’s call and fell into his embrace.
With total joy she exclaimed: “Daddy, I found you!”
I love the way that this story illustrates God’s grace. We wander through life on our own attracted by things that often take us farther and farther from our heavenly Father and our eternal home. Our bent toward sinfulness leaves us fearful, bleeding and utterly exhausted.
But we have a heavenly Father who pursues us!
We can never go so far into the dark forest that He will give up. He searches, calls our name and runs to embrace us.
Let His grace find you today!
Join us this Sunday at 9am on the 30th Street beach in Avalon, NJ. Bring you beach chair, your family and friends!
Avalon Beach Church 