Storms can get our attention.

Storms can show us the fragility of life.

Storms can help shape our lives.

Luke 15

4 If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it?

8 Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and sweep the entire house and search carefully until she finds it?

24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found. So they began to celebrate.

Some leave by circumstance.
Some leave by choice.

Some people are saved by the search.
Some people are saved by searching.

Sometimes we are found by others.
Sometimes we need to find ourselves.

11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons.

12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.

13 “A few days later the younger son gathered up all that he had and left. He traveled far away to another country, and there he wasted his money living like a fool.

Far away…

Romans 1

24 People wanted only to do evil. So God left them and let them go their sinful way. And so they became completely immoral and used their bodies in shameful ways with each other.

25 They traded the truth of God for a lie. They bowed down and worshiped the things God made instead of worshiping the God who made those things. He is the one who should be praised forever. Amen.

26 Because people did those things, God left them and let them do the shameful things they wanted to do. Women stopped having natural sex with men and started having sex with other women.

27 In the same way, men stopped having natural sex with women and began wanting each other all the time. Men did shameful things with other men, and in their bodies they received the punishment for those wrongs.

28 People did not think it was important to have a true knowledge of God. So God left them and allowed them to have their own worthless thinking. And so they do what they should not do.

29 They are filled with every kind of sin, evil, greed, and hatred. They are full of jealousy, murder, fighting, lying, and thinking the worst things about each other. They gossip

30 and say evil things about each other. They hate God. They are rude, proud, and brag about themselves. They invent ways of doing evil. They don’t obey their parents,

31 they are foolish, they don’t keep their promises, and they show no kindness or mercy to others.

32 They know God’s law says that anyone who lives like that should die. But they not only continue to do these things themselves, but they also encourage others who do them.

Luke 15

14 After he spent everything he had, there was a terrible famine throughout the country. He was hungry and he needed money.

15 So he went and got a job with one of the people who lived there. The man sent him into the fields to feed pigs.

16 He was so hungry that he wanted to eat the food the pigs were eating. But no one gave him anything.

17 “The son realized that he had been very foolish. He thought, ‘All my father’s hired workers have plenty of food. But here I am, almost dead because I have nothing to eat.

18 I will leave and go to my father. I will say to him: Father, I have sinned against God and have done wrong to you.

19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. But let me be like one of your hired workers.’

20 So he left and went to his father. “While the son was still a long way off, his father saw him coming and felt sorry for him. So he ran to him and hugged and kissed him.

22 “But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet.

23 And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast,

24 for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.

The Father saw him coming…

Amazing Grace