"The Magnificent Obsession"

  

Wow! The last day of June already! & as in this picture, my roses are in full, beautiful bloom!! 

I'll be posting pictures of my flowers at a later date, but my new computer & I are not really friends yet & so much is different that I can't find this or that or don't know this or that so I have to wait for my twenty-year-old daughter to get home from wherever she is to show me how to do those this or thats & often inspiration is not convenient to our schedules, so I will forge on here because I have a story to tell that won't wait for convenience. I will preface my story with the proverbial,

"Once upon a time"......

with a little variation. 

Once upon this time....

there was a dog named Samson....

Samson is owned by a loving family that adore their doggie person.

My daughter Angie works for Samson's family in a family owned  business. I'm going to tell this story of her journey concerning Samson & his journey, one of the heart, the other of coming home.

Angie called one day, weeping, because Samson had somehow become separated from a family member on an outing to have senior pictures taken. I don't know the details, but the details are not the story.  I just know her heart was broken & she wanted me to pray. As she relayed the story, my heart was broken too, for the family, for Samson, for all involved & weeping, I began to intercede in prayer. That was all I could do because I live a thousand miles away.

But Angie not only took it to heart to 'weep with those who weep', but to make this burden her own. She put the story on facebook, she had fliers made with Samson's picture laminated & posted & distributed & put them up all over the area & businesses where people frequented. She searched, driving  where he was last seen & miles beyond, searching & calling, praying, talking to people, even after she got off work or before she went to work.  One might say that this became an obsession with her. & I guess it was. Let me give you the definition of obsession.

"An idea or thought that constantly occupies ones mind."

 But what was the driving force behind it? Well, I would say....love. 

This brings us to another story. A story of obsessive love. A love so radical, so all consuming, extravagant, so purposed & deliberate, beyond passionate, & never ending, never quitting, until the beloved is won. Or found. That's a love to die for. & in fact, He did. Jesus did.

 "Even while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

(Romans 5:8)

Jesus went to the ultimate length to win us. I am forever humbled & grateful for this truth. The perfect for the flawed. & His obsession is ongoing. 

Even after we belong to Him, He is obsessed with us. The proof of this is in Psalm 139: 1-18. He's always thinking about us, always pursuing, always waiting to enjoy our fellowship, to give comfort & grace in our night seasons of  devastating loss & grief because He doesn't stand on the outside, observing. No, Jesus is right there with us in our pain & loss, feeling what we feel in it's depths, & then giving us hope & renewal of life, becoming everything we need to take the next step. & He is obsessed with those next steps, & next steps, never, ever giving up,

"...being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Christ Jesus." (Philippians 1:6) 

 Jesus is obsessed with success, so to speak, in our lives!  

I believe that is how we, as followers of Jesus, should follow His example too. Be passionate, even obsessed, with our high calling in Christ Jesus! Jesus' obsession paid off in great dividends for us. In fact, us. We are the dividends! His profits!( Oh! The thought just came to me that now we are His 'prophets, sharing'. Ha! A little play on words. But true!)

& Angie's obsession paid off too. It was a journey of faith, holding on to the hem of Jesus garment, until VICTORY! Over three weeks of intensive labor later, a thinner, but very happy Samson showed up at a house about a half of a mile from her house!!! Thank you Jesus!!   (I can't wait to hear his story in heaven someday!)  This is not to minimize all of the other people who also  prayed & did what they could to help. (& there were a lot!) I don't know their story. I do know Angie's. When she called to tell me the good news, I can tell you, the phone connection was electric with the atmosphere of jubilation & 'crying for happy'! Rejoicing with those who rejoice. Samson had come home! Yes!

Notice the word 'lost' crossed out & 'found' written in. I LOVE it!!!

& yet, how much more rejoicing in heaven, when the lost are found!

 "I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents....There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

(John 15 verses 7 & 10)

I can just see Jesus with our pictures, crossing off...

'lost'.

& then, writing in, with His own blood...

'found'. 

That lost one has come home. Home at last!  

& it all started with obsession.

A "Magnificent Obsession"!

Raintree Perk of the Day:

"Oh the overwhelming, never ending, reckless love of God.

Oh it chases me down, fights till I'm found, leaves the ninety-nine.

I don't deserve it, I didn't earn it

yet you give yourself away,

Oh the overwhelming, never ending, reckless love of God!"

( from the song, 'Reckless Love of God' by Cory Asbury)