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The weather this morning allows me to sit on the deck and listen to God’s creations. Sadly, I’m unable to identify the source of the chatter but I can say it sounds joyous, with exception of distant thunder. If only I couldn’t hear the sound of man’s creations and see the result of man’s failures, I could call this heaven on earth. If only …….

Before opening my devotionals this morning I prayed for the ability to recognize any message God had for me. These last couple days, as another duck I’ve lined up leaves the nest, I’ve found a few more on my path that need attention, and phase 2 begins.

The Upper Room took me to the book of Luke, a Gentile doctor and the author of one of the 4 gospels in the New Testament. The NT contains several parables and going in the first time my heart wasn’t in a condition to understand them. As I’ve strolled along, my heart has softened to the point where not only do I understand them better, I’m now able to apply them to my own life. Luke chapter 15 is where I stopped to rest this morning.

15 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” So he told them this parable: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost. Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

After gleaning nuggets from this parable I’m looking them over, paying attention to their detail. Occasionally I have to go back and look at one closer, pausing long enough for it to slip inside the vault. The Pharisees and scribes grumbled because Jesus was receiving sinners and eating with them. It appears they believed sinners weren’t welcome at His table. How are we receiving those we deem sinners today? Shouldn’t we welcome them at our tables too? The teaching didn’t end when Jesus invited them in, he had done his part. The next part is theirs.

“Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”

Opening the door and inviting them in comes from Jesus’ heart. The repentance comes from their heart. Jesus invited me in and I accepted that invitation gratefully, now my part is the repentance before there can be joy in heaven over this lost sheep.

Now where did that unruly duck go? I have to keep looking until I find him.