Written Off

Just over a year ago, I had a bit of an accident. I had been out at the Coo Shed for breakfast with a friend and on my way home I crashed our family van😱. The roads were wet and it had been raining quite heavy. I approached a corner a bit too fast in the conditions and before I realised it, I spun around on the road, hit the grass verge and rolled into the field and onto my side. I can still remember saying ‘oh you ARE kiddin me on’ as I found myself hanging from my chair, with my seat belt holding me in place 😬😬😬! I couldn't believe it!! It wasn’t the nicest of experiences and it left me shaken up. Thankfully apart from getting a bit of a fright and hurting my neck I was actually ok. I was also relieved that there hadn’t been another car coming towards me as my big van could really have done some damage to someone else. I called the police in a panic, I don't why, I think I was scared I was going to let all the sheep out onto the road or that the van was going to go up in flames and I was stuck inside. Thankfully within a minute or two someone stopped and helped me out the boot and made sure I was ok. I'd never had a crash until then. In my defense, the road was extremely slippy, my father-in-law will testify to that! Also not long after the police arrived another car came around the corner and slid into an oncoming vehicle. It became manic for a bit and I was forgotten about in the field for a while. I eventually got hold of Calum at his work to tell him I’d been in an accident. He was fine and was more curious as to where I’d been, afterall I hadn’t mentioned I’d been going out for breakfast 😂. He organised for his Dad to come and get me, but in the end he managed to get away from work. I’ll always remember standing in the field, the two of them looking a bit shocked and I asked if the van could be fixed? Calum laughed in amusement and said “eh no I don’t think so Ruth, I’m sure it’s completely written off.” I was sad, I really loved that van, we all did! We had driven to France and back in the summer and I was really attached to it. He was right enough however, and a few days later the insurance company confirmed that it was not worth the money to fix the van, it was a lost cause. 😞

The bible reminds me that there are no lost causes with God. I’m not very good at remembering where parts of the bible are written or what a full verse says. However if anyone mentions Luke ch 15 to me, I always know instantly what story in the bible that they are referring to, the story of the prodigal son. This is a favourite of mine and one that really reflects God’s heart. The story is about a Father who has two sons. His younger son asks for his inheritance that he would receive when his father dies. The Father willingly divides up his wealth and gives the son his inheritance. Shortly after this, the son leaves the home and goes off out into the world and wastes all his money. I googled ‘what does it mean to be a prodigal son?’ it said :

“a son/daughter who leaves his or her parents to do things that they do not approve of but then feels sorry and then returns home.”

Sure enough in the story in Luke 15, the son wastes all his money and then when he has nothing left, his friends leave him. He is so poor and hungry. Eventually he comes to his senses and decides to return home to apoligise to his father. He decides to ask his father to make him one of his servants, because he knows he doesn’t deserve the place of a son after the way he treated him. As a servant he would have somewhere to stay and food to eat. However, when he returns home, his Father is overjoyed to see him back. He celebrates his return with a feast, gives him new clothes and is more than happy to call him son. My favourite part about the story is, when the son returned to the Father, the bible says that the Father saw him while he was still a long way off. The Father was eagerly looking for his return. In fact the Father saw the Son before the Son saw the Father. The father hadn't lost hope. He hadn’t written him off. The message puts it like this:

“When he was still a long way off, his father saw him. His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced him, and kissed him. The son started his speech: ‘Father, I’ve sinned before you; I don’t deserve to be called your son ever again’. But the father wasn’t listening. He was calling to the servants, ‘Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress him. Put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Then get a grain-fed heifer and roast it. We’re going to feast! We’re going to have a wonderful time! My son is here - given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found!’

In the story, the Father represents God and the Son represents us. Like most parents, God has a plan for us, He knows what is best for us. However like the son in the story, we are born wanting to have our own way and live to please ourselves. But like the Father in the story, God is watching and waiting for us to come to Him.

As the Father was overjoyed at his sons return, so God is, when someone comes to him. In fact the bible says in the same chapter that angels rejoice when one sinner repents.

There are many of us today that know someone like this lost son, or might even be a lost son themselves. Someone that has turned their back on everything they have been brought up to know. Sadly, today the world offers many temptations and delights that only ever in the long term leave you bashed, broken, worthless and empty, just like my van last year. After my accident the van was useless for the job it had been created to do. So it is with many people today, they are ruined to the point that they are useless for anything they have been created to do, whether physically or mentally. But unlike my van, written off as a lost cause, there are NEVER any lost causes with God. The expense was too great for my van but God spared no expense when providing a way back for any 'lost causes'. God offered his most valuable treasure, His son Jesus, as the ultimate sacrifice to provide a way of return to Him. "Jesus told him, "I am the way the truth and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me." John 14:6

Like the Father in the story, God is ready, watching and waiting for us to return to him. The Father ran towards his son, embraced him and kissed. I’m sure the son never expected this response from the Father. After the way he had treated him he didn’t deserve it, but that shows how loved he was. This reflects how much God loves us.

Like the transformation in the son, going from poor, hungry and no doubt smelly from living with pigs, when he arrives home his Father gives him a new set of clothes, a ring for his finger and a feast to feed on. God can take any life today, regardless of the desperate, useless situation they find themselves in and transform it into something beautiful for him. If you are a prodigal son, living a life away from God or if you know someone, a prodigal, far away from you and God, take hope in this. There are no lives written off by God, no lost causes, no one that is useless for Him. Don't give up, keep watching and waiting.

I want to share a song with you that my good friend Ruth wrote. Weirdly, I have two friends called Ruth!! One is really gifted in art, the other one is really gifted musically! I don’t know how they describe me 🙈😕! But Ruth wrote and performs this song called ‘The Prodigals’. I hope you enjoy the words as much as I do. 💗 Lets keep praying for the prodigals in our lives.