My latest obsession is disc golf. I discovered it a few months ago and cannot get enough of it. Am I good at it? Absolutely not. Do I enjoy it? Immensely! I enjoy getting outdoors and breathing in the fresh air. I like exploring new courses. But what I really love about disc golf…are the actual discs. There are so many varieties and it’s fun for me to collect the ones with cool looking stamps on them. In fact, I love this aspect of the sport so much that I already had to order a rack to store all my discs. Each disc is unique, serves its own purpose, and is sometimes just plain fun to have in my collection.

Up until this week, I had not been good enough to lose a disc. The reason being…I couldn’t throw one far enough for it to leave my sight. Fortunately, or unfortunately, this all changed recently. Either through consistent practice or just dumb luck, I launched a drive several hundred feet, just over the horizon, and into the forest. When I went to find it, it was gone! I looked everywhere. I left no stone unturned. I searched for an hour. That’s right, I spent one hour looking for one disc! I wasn’t worried about poison ivy. I didn’t care about getting too close to a snake (which by the way, happened). I didn’t mind being ankle deep in the creek. I was bound and determined to find my lost disc. After all, it was part of my disc family. I couldn’t just leave it behind.

That’s when I thought of the story Jesus told of the lost sheep in Luke 15:4-7: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep but loses one of them. Then he will leave the other ninety-nine sheep in the open field and go out and look for the lost sheep until he finds it. And when he finds it, he happily puts it on his shoulders and goes home. He calls to his friends and neighbors and says, ‘Be happy with me because I found my lost sheep.’  In the same way, I tell you there is more joy in heaven over one sinner who changes his heart and life, than over ninety-nine good people who don’t need to change.”

So, here’s the difference between me and the shepherd in this story. I searched for my disc for an hour. I fought against nature to find that valued member of my collection. I literally poured out sweat and blood (a lot more sweat than blood…although sticker bushes can be really painful). But after a while, as dejected as I was, I determined this endeavor was not worth any more of my time or resources. I gave up, went back home, and ordered a duplicate disc off Amazon. This is quite the opposite of how Jesus pursues each and every one of us. He doesn’t quit after an hour. He doesn’t eventually decide we’re just not worth the effort. No matter how lost we may be, he never stops reaching out to us. He wants to bring us home more than anything else in this world. He’s already punched the ticket for us on the cross on Calvary. He knows paradise awaits those who know Him. And He will do whatever it takes to seek us, find us, and deliver us.

Thanks for taking time to read this. And hit me up if you ever want to play a round of disc golf. I have plenty of discs for both of us!