“What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray and gets lost, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountain and go in search of the one that is lost? And if it should be that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not get lost. Just so it is not the will of My Father Who is in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost and perish.” Matthew 18:12-14 ->me: When I read this passage, I see both a comfort and a warning. It brings notes of the sentiment in the parable of the prodigal son. Just like in the prodigal son, there is more joy over the one who was saved and returned to the fold than the one who never left and got lost. But at the same time, Jesus is saying that it is not the will of the Father that anyone would get lost and perish in the first place. The shepherd leaving the 99 to find the one, shows the lengths the Lord will go to in order to get us back into the flock. It causes me pause to know that, as a man of God and a spiritually mature head of my household, I must be on the lookout for lost sheep. Sometimes it will require sacrifice (leaving the 99) to retrieve that sheep. Am I staying vigilant in looking for sheep that are missing in my life and if yes, am I doing something about it?