Jesus finds every lost sheep

It all started out last year when the Saint Louis Cardinals offered up the three Legends of Baseball as bobbleheads to be given out at the stadium as a giveaway.

It was also the time that Albert Pujols was beginning to break the 700 barrier of home runs.

There was excitement in the air last September.

I must admit that I was a little afraid of the seller when Albert hit the 703 home runs, wondering if he would honor my purchase.

The seller did and shipped them quickly after he received the last stadium giveaway.

At best, I figured they would be an investment for the future.

They were three bobbleheads that put together as a puzzle and each piece spelled out a part of “Cardinals.”

Yadier Molina, Albert Pujols and Adam Wainwright were the three.

Yadi was catching, Albert was batting and Adam was pitching.

I must say that two out of the three have increased in value.

I won’t tell you which ones.

After that, I seem to have caught a fever and have started collecting sports memorabilia and certain bobbleheads of team members that I like.

They are mostly Kansas City Royals, the Blues and the Cardinals.

On May 6, one of my favorite Kansas City Royals players came home and retired, Lorenzo Cain better known as “Lo Cain.”

He was a great in the outfield and had a saying “Not today!” when a high fly ball came his way, seeking to be over the back fence.

In honoring that, I found a bobblehead of Lorenzo Cain making “the slide” after Salvador Perez hit a line drive in left field in 2014, which sent them to the World Series.

I purchased it from a reputable seller that I had bought before and he promptly shipped it. I don’t know about you, but I am fascinated by watching priority mail tracking of items. It made it from outside Trenton, New Jersey, to Phillipsburg, New Jersey, and then to Indianapolis. It arrived in St Louis at 63042 zip code on April 26 at 10:18 a.m. It then departed from there to Hazelwood 63143 at 3:34 a.m. and arrived at 4:03 a.m. Every morning at midnight for 5 days I got a message that said “in transit, arriving late”.

After 5 days, I contacted the local post office and they tried to figure out where it was. It’s last known location was when it was picture scanned at Hazelwood on its arrival. I learn that the post office scans all mail with pictures. Usually it is overnight from 63042 in St Louis to Poplar Bluff.

Well, needless to say after another 5 days I asked the local post office to do a mail search.

Lost items of the postal system do not go to the “dead letter office” anymore but go to a place called the “mail recovery center” in Atlanta, Georgia.

Since then, I have not heard anything except that after 30 days I will be told if they have not found it and then after 60 days they will stop looking and declare it lost.

They only said that they hope that someone would find it laying around and put it in the right bin and I would get it from Hazelwood.

In saying that, I did research.

According to record, the United States postal service only loses 1 in 20,000 mail items.

That is a remarkable statistic considering how many pieces of mail and packages the post office handles each and every day of the week.

The Sunday after I reported it, the scripture for was Jesus and the 100 sheep.

The scripture speaks to how Jesus leaves the 99 behind and goes after the one looking for it to bring it back to the flock. It is implied in the scriptures that Jesus will use any means that he can to find the one lost sheep.

In the scriptures, I envision Jesus climbing all over the rocks and hills and looking in every crevice to find that lost sheep.

In 2023, I envision Jesus going into all the places that most of us probably wouldn’t be comfortable around and in looking for the lost. Unlike the United States Post Office, Jesus will continue looking after 60 days until that lost sheep is found.

I must say the local post office did all that they could to find my package but once they did the mail search it was out of their hands and they could not help anymore.

I guess what I’m saying is that is very comforting to know that Jesus will never stop looking for the lost.

As the scripture says, “Then Jesus told them a parable. Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the 99 and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? and when he finds it he directly puts it on his shoulder and goes home.

Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says ‘rejoice with me, I have found my lost sleep. I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents then over 99 righteous persons who do not need to repent.”

Wow.

That one lost sheep was me some 40 plus years ago.

In college I had kind of got uninvolved in the local church until I made that faithful visit to do a story at the Wesley foundation at Northeast Louisiana University.

It was there that I met a minister by the name of Jim Wilson and he became not only my pastor but also my mentor.

He was also the one that suggested I might consider a call to the ministry.

Perhaps you have known a lost sheep that God continued to search for through Jesus until that person was found and returned to the kingdom.

Even in these hard times, always remember that Jesus the Good Shepherd will continue to look for those who are lost and in need of the hope and love of his heavenly Father.

Needless to say we are anxiously waiting to see what happens after 30 and 60 days.

I am trusting that the lost will be found.

Rev. Frank Chlastak began work as senior minister of First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Poplar Bluff in 2015.