My friend Justin, who gave his life in India, while serving as a missionary. He would do it again. So would BJ. How many of us understand how dire the need is to Go (even across the street) and to serve, and to die daily?


I received a couple of letters through the mail, recently. This is a bit unusual as most correspondence today, comes via the internet. These were from a couple of young ladies in California.

They were both interested in missions. One had just read our book and was reaching out, based on it's impact on her life. Both attend a Christian Academy for troubled teen girls.

The one young lady had actually written us two letters. One introducing herself, and the other introducing her friend/roommate, who is headed to Costa Rica soon.

In her hand written letter (becoming a lost form of communication) she indicated the difficulty of her upbringing in Florida. She spoke of foster care and other difficulties of life which contributed to her landing in the "academy."

After becoming familiar with her story, I did as I often do. I began to search for her on Facebook.

My initial search for her unusual name resulted in a "suggestion" from facebook to try a different name.

Since her correspondence included her middle name, I tried one more time, with the middle name included.

The result of that search shocked me!

The only result it produced (which is very unusual) took me to a website in Florida. I imagine her most unusual name was the primary reason for how few possibilities were retrieved.

I visited the website to find that she was listed as a "Missing Child!"

The date she had gone missing was nearly 18 years ago. She had indicated to me in her letter that she was about to turn 18. She (if it is in fact her) had gone missing as a baby!

I sat in stunned silence for many moments.

Next I began to share the story with co-workers. They all suggested I do what I could to make contact with the agency listing her as missing. This was my plan, but I wanted to be sure I was making the right move.

Visions of abusive parents rolled through my mind, and I did not want to put her back in harms way.

With this small amount of information, I made contact.

I have no idea if her case is still active. I have no idea if this will yield any result, positive or negative. I only know she once was lost... reported missing!

How many people today that we encounter daily, are lost? Perhaps no social service agency has reported them missing. Perhaps there is no paper trail.

Regardless, they have a Father who longs for them to be restored to Him.

Some of them are waiting for me to become active in the process of leading them down this road to restoration.

Am I sitting in unproductive silence? Am I apathetic? Am I quick to produce my "to do list" as an excuse to not help them out?

Just as her parents may be looking for her, my Father is looking for these.

Reconnecting the lost with those who love them is what my life is to be about.

I cannot lose focus.

Justin didn't. BJ didn't. I cannot.


dad