Who Will Go?

Who Will Go?
Bishop Vashti McKenzie
Three year old Joshua Childers wandered away from his two parent mobile home wearing nothing but a t-shirt, tennis shoes and a diaper earlier this year. His father, Adam fell asleep tired from working the night shift while his mother was on the phone.
Local officials, neighbors, friends and strangers mounted a massive search and rescue effort according to published accounts. Three days later the little toddler was found in the Mark Twain National Forest in his t-shirt, one tennis shoe, no diaper, but not worse for the wear. Probably in the back of the boy's mind was a thought - this is not a trip to be taken again soon.
Joshua is a blessed little boy. He has a two-parent family. He wandered away and people were concerned enough to look for him. People who meant him no harm found Joshua, and returned him to the lifestyle he was accustomed.
In Luke's gospel, there are a series of stories detailing the account of the lost. There is the coin lost somewhere in a darkened environment. There is the son who walks away from home. There is the sheep that wander away from the flock.
The woman lights a candle and goes looking for the coin. The father waits for the prodigal to return. The shepherd leaves the 90 and 9 and goes looking for the stray lamb just like Joshua's parents, law enforcement and volunteers went looking for him.
According to the Justice Department, an average 2,185 children go missing every day. Today, there are 797,500 children under 18 who are missing, 203,900 taken away by family members and 58,200 taken by non-family members. The Center for Missing and Exploited Children have assisted law enforcement agencies with 148,160 cases of missing children resulting in 132,000 children recovered. There are thousands of children who wander away, walk away or are taken away. For most of them, there are the appropriate authorities and people who care enough to go looking for them. However, some children are never found.
Four year old Maddy McCann went missing over two years ago during a family vacation while her parents dined in another room in Portugal. She hasn't been found yet. Others missing individuals never live long enough to be found, like Caylee Anthony. And still, for too many families, it is a tragic end as in the case of three year old Christopher Pidgeon. The toddler went missing from his home in Texas for only a few hours, not the 52 hours in the Childers' case. He was later found in a neighbor's swimming pool. He died.
The truth of the matter is many children go missing. You never see their stories splashed on TV; somehow they don't fit the "America needs to care" profile. The Chicago defender last year concluded in an article written by Kathy Chaney that missing black youth get unequal national media coverage. Sadly enough there are children, youth and adults who have no one who cares enough to go looking for them.
I'm glad for a Savior who cares enough about the walkers, wanderers, and willful who go missing in action in our communities. There are those missing in our churches. Who goes looking for them? Who goes looking for those who wander away from bible study? Who mounts a search effort for those who walk away from worship services?
Who cares about those who are lost in a spiritual wilderness with only a t-shirt, tennis shoes and a diaper? While we are struggling with the struggle in our comfort zones being about being busy, who goes looking for the lost these days? Who gleans the fringes of the fields? Who is going after those who don't deserve service and are a drain on your resources? Is the harvest still plentiful and are those who serve too few?
The question rings from heaven again today, as it did for Isaiah - who will go for us? And the response is what? Will it be here I am Lord, send me?