The Lost

"The lost" are not just a mass of people 'out there' without a faces, without names. They are my uncles, my aunts, my in-laws, my friends, my co-worker, my fellow churchman, my fellow American in New Orleans, my waiter...my neighbor. "The lost" are the people I interact with every day who smoke, who drink, who get kicked out of their duplex, who can't pay their rent, who sleep around and who reject the church as we know it. These are "the lost" and although I work in the very wonderful world of Christian publishing by day, tonight my heart is broken because "the lost" are those children in my neighborhood who were carried away in a 'paddy wagon' tonight because their dad's in jail, their mom can't make rent, and the house is falling down around them. They are the ones who play in my back yard, play make believe with my kids, and attend Thursday night Bible club and listen so well to the stories of God's love for them. Yes, "the lost" have names and tonight I speak these names to the Father by name precisley because they are...my friends...not just "the lost."