My 5 year old son and I were at Magic Mountain a few weeks back. He and I were having some daddy and son time. I took him to go ride the go-carts and have some fun in the arcade. We were having a great time and just going through all of our tokens in the arcade. I sat down to play a game and he was right next to me. About 45 seconds later, I looked up from the game I was playing and he was gone. I immediately got up and began to look around. Nothing…I could not see him. I did not hear him. Nothing…and then I had that feeling. That feeling that says “my kid is lost, holy crap.” I started sprinting around the arcade looking for him saying his name. Finally, I saw him. He was in one of those games where you are driving a car. Only this one was a truck and he was hidden by the frame of the truck he was “driving.” I picked him up and just hugged him and relief and joy flowed throughout my veins.
As I was driving home with him, I was thinking about that experience. As I did, it hit me. God chased me down. He called my name. He pursued me. He looked for me when I was lost. And once I was found, there was a party in heaven thrown for me. God celebrated his child that was once last and now found. Suddenly I just felt even more blessed. This night gave new meaning to some of the teaching in Luke 15. I could more clearly relate to finding a child that was lost.
For the record….Kaden got a talking to….and I quit playing games the rest of the night.
A Pastor's Thoughts 
Sometimes I wonder if parents are training the children or are the children training the parents. I learned so much from my children and lessons I was trying to teach them.
Keith,
Paul was 6 when we took our family vacation to Israel. Our group numbered about twelve, including grandparents, cousins and an uncle and aunt. At one of our stops we had to walk through a bazaar to get to the church we were to visit. We made a quick stop to look at their goods and then continued on. As we got out of the bazaar and down the road, I realized that Paul wasn’t with us. He had been left behind on his own. We each thought he was with someone else. I raced back to the bazaar thinking I may never see my son again. I found the spot where we had stopped, and there was Paul standing just where we left him. I never realized how much I loved him until that minute.
Robin