Many years ago when I first got a GPS in my car, I headed out to a destination I had never been to, in a town I had never visited, with full confidence that little electronic gadget would lead my way. I ended up, just after dark, at the end of a dead end street. I had no idea where I was or how to correct my direction. I didn’t even know how to backtrack and find another route. I was hopelessly lost, there was nowhere to ask for directions and my only alternative was to turn around and return the way I had come. I never did get to that destination.
    Getting lost is a disorienting and frustrating and helpless feeling that none of us likes.
    And Jesus tells us in today’s gospel that that is the feeling when we are cut off from God; when we lose our way with Him and to Him; when we try to go it alone without His guidance and His grace long the way.
    Jesus uses two examples to help us to understand. The man who loses one of his hundred sheep; and the woman who loses one of her ten valuable coins.
    What is key to these examples is that the man and the woman both go in search of that which was lost and when they find it they celebrate the return.
Of course the message is that anytime we find ourselves lost and drifting aimlessly through life, God comes in search of us. God’s love for us is such that He does not want us to feel lost or disconnected from Him. And so He goes the extra step to find us and to bring us back to himself.
    Let’s take a few moments today to reconnect with God and to know that He is always there waiting with open arms to welcome us home.