Stragglers

I like to feed hummingbirds. As I was researching how to feed them well, I
found
that many websites say to watch for stragglers at the end of the warm
season. This year, we’ve had a couple stragglers. It’s November when I
write this, and I am still putting out food and it’s still disappearing. I
keep thinking these hummingbirds are lost and one day they’ll wish they
were someplace warmer.

In Luke 15, Jesus tells a story about another straggler. The Prodigal son
left home with his father’s money in his pocket. Now no one would tell him
what to do—he was free to make his own choices. He did exactly as he wanted
to…until he had spent every bit of his money. Alone, abandoned by his
partying friends, he was hungry, thirsty, and had no place to sleep.

Then he found a job feeding pigs, which was about the lowest job anyone
could find at that time. Pigs were seen as nasty, dirty creatures that
would eat about anything. The Prodigal found himself feeding them pods. The
hogs gobbled them up. The Prodigal stared at the pods, wondering what they
tasted like. He might have been so hungry that he ate some. As his belly
moaned and he could barely stand the smell of the pigs (or himself), he
thought of his father. Realizing that maybe he could still be a servant in
his father’s household—a place where he could have something to eat and
somewhere to sleep—he started toward home.

As the Prodigal approached his father’s house, he found his father waiting.
Most of us might assume he wouldn’t be welcome. (And in fact, his older
brother grumbled and complained when he came back.) Yet his father hugged
him close, offered him a bath, clean clothes, and food—and welcomed him
back as his son. Not a servant, but his son.

Jesus welcomes us—rebellious stragglers though we are—into His arms and
into His household. And He asks us to welcome fellow stragglers who are
lost. Jesus will take them in, offer them new beginnings, a place in His
family, and love that overwhelms. ⦁ Anna Gregory

⦁ Have you ever felt like the younger brother in this story: lost, dirty,
and broken? Jesus invites you to bring these feelings to Him and rest in
His love.

⦁ Have you ever felt like the older brother in this story: wary,
suspicious, and perhaps jealous of outsiders coming into the church? You
can bring these feelings to Jesus too and ask Him to help you extend His
love and stragglers.

“For the Son of Man [Jesus] came to seek and save those who are lost.” Luke
19:10 (NLT)

Read Verses:

Luke 15:10-Luke 15:32; Luke 19:10