God Cares for Each One

Several years ago, my family and I went to the beach in the month of October. We had a great time because we pretty much had the beach to ourselves. One evening we went for a walk on the local pier and our timing could not have been better. I have never seen so many fishing poles in all my life. The rails of the pier were jammed packed with fishermen of all ages. Not only were there a lot of people fishing, there were a lot of people catching too! Everybody was pulling in spots. Two at a time even. I saw 5 gallon buckets full of fish. Large coolers were overflowing with fish.
Of course I had to rush back to the house and get my fishing pole, tackle, and bait. I also looked around for something in which to keep my catch, and fortunately there was a 5 gallon bucket just sitting there. As I rushed back to the pier, I had visions of my bucket overflowing with fish. I quickly paid my fee and began to look for an open place in which to set up shop. I noticed the frenzy had died down quiet a bit, but I still saw people pulling in fish. I baited my hook and cast it gently into the surf below. Within seconds I felt the gratifying tug of a fish on my line. I jubilantly pulled it in, took it off the hook, and placed it in the bottom of the bucket. As I cast my line again I just knew that within a short while I was going to be piling more fish on top of this first one.
Well things did not work out as well as I had planned, as an eternity passed before I caught the next fish. While I was getting anxious and wondering if I would catch anything else, Taylor (about 6-7 years old at the time) did something with my fish which both embarrassed me and thrilled me. He took the 5 gallon bucket with that lonely, pathetic fish in the bottom and went to the guy who was fishing next to us. This guy had several coolers full of fish, but Taylor goes up to him and excitedly says, "Want to see the fish my Dad caught?!" I could have crawled under a rock, because this guy had several hundred fish in his possession and all I could account for was one measly little fish. Thankfully, this man was very friendly and he made a nice comment to Taylor.
Now, what thrilled me about this incident was my son being so excited over something his father had done. All the fish, in all the buckets on that pier didn't mean a thing to him. Just the one his father had caught. I'm reminded of the story in Luke 15:1-7 in which the shepherd leaves the ninety-nine in order to find the one that was lost. Jesus used this parable to teach that there is "more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance."
Let's get excited about the one. Let's get excited about each sinner our Father has saved.
His by Grace,
Bert