One year on vacation we lost our youngest son.  Without realizing it, he jumped on an elevator going up.  The condo we were staying in had about twenty floors, and we had no idea which floor the elevator would land on.  Our hearts sank as we frantically started running in different directions. Within thirty seconds the elevator doors reopened – thankfully he didn’t push any buttons.  During that brief moment of his absence I envisioned a hundred different scenarios, none of them good.  Losing a child, even for just a half-minute, is a gut-wrenching feeling.

     I am sure Mary and Joseph had to feel the same way.  When Jesus was twelve years old, He tarried behind in Jerusalem after the custom of the feast.  Mary and Joseph anxiously searched for three days among the family.  Returning back to Jerusalem they found Him in the temple among the doctors asking questions. What joy they must have felt when they embraced the Lord after His brief hiatus from their presence. 

     Oftentimes it can feel like we, too, are separated from the Lord.  In the hustle and bustle of our daily activities we become disengaged.  If not careful we can go days without being in His presence.  When the Lord turns up “missing” it is not because He loses us, it is because we lose Him.  Oh, but what joy it is to rediscover the “missing” Lord!