By Vince Antonucci
When our kids were younger my wife and I took them to a big waterpark. Our son was 5 and our daughter was almost 3, so we spent the day in the kiddie pools. Each pool had slides and all kinds of fun stuff. We played in one for a while, then walked about 100 yards to a second kiddie pool where we let the kids splash around. We then walked another 100 yards to the next one, where my kids repeatedly slid down one big slide. My wife walked over to the other side of the pool to a big mushroom umbrella shower. My son, Dawson, came down the slide and asked, โWhereโs Mommy?โ
โSheโs over by the mushroom water shower umbrella thingy,โ I answered.
โCan I go get her?โ he asked.
โSure,โ I told him, โGo ahead.โ
About five minutes later I grabbed my daughter and said, โLetโs go get Mommy and Dawson.โ
When we got to the shower, my wife was still under it . . . all by herself.
โWhereโs Dawson?โ
โWhat are you talking about?โ she asked.
โI sent him over about five minutes ago.โ
โI havenโt seen him.โ
I started looking all over the kiddie pool area. I didnโt see him.
I thought, Donโt freak out, Vince, heโs here. Umm, heโs wearing a blue bathing suit.
I looked for a blue bathing suit.
No.
OK. Itโs OK. Look for light brown hair.
No.
Maybe heโs in one of the slides.
No.
I yelled, โDawson!โ
It had now been about 10 minutes since we had seen our son. I continued to look. Soon it was 15 minutes. I thought, I am never going to see my son again. Iโm never going to hold my son again. I started totally freaking out.
The kiddie pool area was sort of in a valley. I ran up the stairs to the sidewalk so I could have a better view of the whole pool. I looked down. He was not there.
My heart was racing. My throat clenched up. My head was pounding. I looked again. He was not there.
Blue bathing suit? No. Light brown hair? No. On one of the slides? No.
I looked up the sidewalk to my left. No. I looked down the sidewalk to my right. No. I looked in the pool again. No. It had now been close to 20 minutes.
I again looked to my left, and far down the path I saw what appeared to be a light brown-haired kid weaving between people. I couldnโt see the color of the bathing suit. I called out, โDawson? Dawson?โ
Then I yelled, โDAWSON!โ
Finally, the boy looked up, and it was my son.
โDawson!โ
He saw me, and his face went white. We ran toward each other and he dove into my arms, crying. I asked, โWhere were you?โ
โI went to find Mommy,โ he said. โI thought she was at the pool we were at before.โ
โYou went all the way to the other pool by yourself?โ I asked.
I held him . . . and held him . . . and held him. And I understood, as I thought of those moments when I wondered if Iโd ever see or hold my son again, how God must feel about all of his children who have wandered away from him.
I could relate to Godโs cries in Jeremiah 4:19, โOh, my anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain. Oh, the agony of my heart! My heart pounds within me.โ What was tormenting God? His heart was broken for his lost children who had wandered far away from him.
Thatโs why Jesus cameโhe was on an all-out search and rescue mission to bring Godโs lost children home.
As I held my son tightly, it was as if we were the only ones on that crowded waterpark sidewalk. For a moment all the yelps and shouts and laughter were hushed, and all the commotion was calmed. My torment turned to joy in finding my lost son.
It reminded me of my mission to help Godโs lost children get back into his arms.
Vince Antonucci serves as lead pastor at Verve, โa church for people who donโt like church,โ in Las Vegas. He is the author of I Became a Christian and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt, Guerrilla Lovers, Renegade: Your Faith Isnโt Meant to Be Safe, and God for the Rest of Us. He regularly speaks at and consults with churches and blogs at http://vinceantonucci.com.
Author: Christian Standard
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