The Parable of The Crying Child

You won't believe what I am about to tell you. As I look back on it now, only God could have arranged such a thing. It all began with a small, screaming child walking down the middle of a busy street, into traffic. See, I told you that you wouldn't believe it.

My grandson and I had just finished an ice cream cone at our local Dairy Queen, and we were headed back to the disc golf course for another nine holes. That's when we saw a young boy, maybe two years of age, walking directly towards some oncoming traffic - a pickup truck.

Thankfully the truck stopped, and a woman got out. She approached the child who had his arms raised as he walked, and she led him to the curb. I had pulled my car over and had exited my car to help. That's when the lady looked up at me and said, "Bob?"

A family came out of the house where we had stopped our vehicles. They tried comforting the little boy who had apparently wandered away from home and didn't know where he was.

The police were called, and they arrived a few minutes later. Thank God for the compassion of the woman in the pickup truck AND the family from the house.

Now, let's get back to the lady who called out my name. She was a former youth group kid who I hadn't seen for many years.

There is a saying I came up with during my time as a youth leader at church. "Once a youth leader, ALWAYS a youth leader." Here was proof of that statement.

These youth roup kids mean so much to me. It truly is like all those kids became MY kids. And I, their father. I love and care about them all.

I can't begin to tell you the joy I felt, seeing this particular friend of mine after so many years. All the memories came flooding back of the talks we used to have. But then we drifted apart. Sad.

This whole event made me realize something. Something about Jesus. Do you see the parable here? There are actually two parables.

The first parable is the screaming child. The kid had run away from home it turned out. He had been bad, so he told us. Isn't that you and me? Don't we sin against a Holy God? Don't we run away from God? This kid was a perfect example of us.

My friend in the pickup truck was an example of Jesus. Stopping her truck, greeting the child with love and compassion and removing him from the danger he was literally walking right into.

There is actually a third parable here. It would be me in the role of God the Father. If the woman in the truck was Jesus, I as "the father" (a youth leader) was certainly very proud

"This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." - Matthew 3:17

God loves us. When we get into trouble, all we have to do is turn to Him. We KNOW we've been bad. All we really want is to be forgiven and loved. And isn't that The Gospel?