return of it all..

So I know.. I've sort of been leaving you hanging on the issues of what's lost. Not sure if you've been pondering on it at all or not.. but the Lord has moved in me to see some depths of despair - in longing for more than this world can offer >> desiring to re-fill the human soul to completion from what was lost in the fall.

When I first heard the list of things lost :: innocence, intimacy, life, identity, and dominion :: the Lord took me back - way back - to a message I had once heard.. a message that stayed with me not from coolness of the illustrations, but from power of the Scriptures. It's a message from the very first series at encounter in Langdon Hall >> yeah, way back.

The Lord has me soaking up His Truth in the story of the Lost Son.. from the pages of Luke 15. I know you know the story,, but have you really grasped all that has been returned.. check out the Scripture :: with just a little of my own stylizing added in >>

Luke 15: 17-24 -

When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me life on of your hired servants.' (notice when it comes time to say this to Father, how much he is able to get out.. his Father is restoring his dominion). So he got up and went to his father.

But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him (intimacy, check).

The son said to him, "Father, I hace sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son."

But the father said to his servants, "Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger (identity in his Father's Name) and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it (innocence returned in sacrifice). Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found. (Life.. He said it.. not me.)" So they began to celebrate.

There is a power more mighty than anything that this world has to offer,, and it is found the greatest love story ever written.. by the One who created it all.. and even though we didn't deserve any of it.. He returned it all. So now He calls us to live (the way we were created to :: as His sons and daughters) and celebrate - i think thats the least that i can do!