Keeping up with my cell phone requires much effort. You see, it has a mind of its own and occasionally decides to go its own way. For example, the other day I rose early in the morning, sleepily got myself ready, and drove to a nearby park. After a brisk walk during which I actually awoke (mornings are not my thing), I returned home. But my phone was missing.
Frantic I searched the house. Nothing. I scoured my van. Still nothing. Then I remembered hearing an odd noise when I drove to the park. A bumping, tumbling kind of noise. Suddenly I knew. The phone had climbed out of the van, onto the roof, and escaped...again. Leaving my computers and other electronic devices behind, I went in search of the lost phone.
For quite a while I walked along the road where I'd heard the noise. Then Beverly joined me in my quest and we drove up and down the road. I prayed. She prayed. We all prayed. But there was nothing to be found. I returned home, angry and dejected. Then I remembered something.
Months before, my older son had installed an app on my iPad so I could locate my errant phone whenever it wandered. Worked quite well, especially that time I'd forgotten the phone was in my pocket. (My family thought that was hilarious.)
I ran to the iPad and hit the ON button. Nothing. It needed charging. My day was not getting better. So as it charged, I took a shower, calmed down, and thought of life without my phone. Wasn't a pretty picture. Then Beverly rushed into the room. The iPad was on. The app was working. And a little green dot appeared on a map...30 yards from where I'd stopped my search.
We raced back and searched again. At long last, there it was---not on the pavement or buried in the grass, but in the middle of a clean, often-traveled sidewalk. The protective case was a bit battered---after all, the phone had leapt from a moving van---but the heart of the device was intact. I turned on the phone, its face came to life, and everything worked perfectly.
Jesus once said, If a man owns 100 sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the 99 on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the 99 that did not wander off. Matthew 18:12-13
That's how it is with God. We are important to Him. He loves us in spite of who we are or what we've done. When we take our eyes off Him and wander away, God still loves us. He will find us, come to us, and lead us home to become the people He knows we can be.
But as we walk with Him, we realize just how lost we were. We feel the crushing weight of a miserable life without Him. We are battered and scarred. Then God reaches out and holds us close. "It's OK. I know your heart. You're with me now. And I am very happy to have you back."
Are you wandering from God? Have others let you down? Is your life a miserable mess, not what you thought it would be? Are you alone, confused...lost? God has an app for that---Jesus.
For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost. Luke 19:10 
