As I came into the church on my first Sunday back from recovery, I walked through the west door, through the office and there on the bulletin board, someone hung a letter from a woman in Missouri. In the pioneer-days of The Iowa River Church community, many of her relatives settled here and helped in building the county in various ways. She needed our help with whatever information we could share with her. What did they do here, did they bring any clarity to the church?

In years gone by, I had undertaken the task of looking through the old minutes and recording them to my computer. It was time consuming and ill health intervened in its completion.

Many old prairie towns have come and disappeared. As I was looking at old plat-maps, it seems to me how this family did their searching was the same manner and effort that God put into His church. Many of you folks understand the back and forth conversations needed to bring a family picture into focus.

Throughout scripture, God is constantly seeking those lost ones in His family. When Jesus went about His public speaking, He told a parable about a special shepherd that had lost one of his 100 sheep. He was not complacent to just let it go. He went out, found the straggling critter and carried it back to the camp.

This story reveals how God, who doesn’t want any member to be lost, searches. He wants to speak with us and see how we are faring in this world. He created us for fellowship but we have a way of losing ourselves in our responses to Him. He once knew us but like the ancients, many have separated from Him and not left any forwarding addresses.

God wants us to inherit his DNA. He wants us to come back and speak to Him. We must find our way home, to the sheepfold. God has His own records of who our family relatives are. Regardless of who we think we are, we were created in the image of God and like Jeremiah of the Old Testament, we have a task to do. We must believe that our Christian life is well-worth telling others. Keep the good news falling on human ears.