"She'll not live a day," a physician told a nurse. Concerned, the nurse tried to be a friend to the dying woman, and after a few hours she won her confidence.
The old woman said sorrowfully, "I have traveled all the way from California by myself, stopping at every city of importance between San Francisco and Boston. In every city I visited two places: the police station and the hospital. You see, my boy ran away from home and I have no idea where he is. I've got to find him...."
The mother's eyes seemed flash a ray of hope as she added,
"Someday he may even come into this very hospital, and if he does, please
promise me you'll tell him his two best friends never gave up on him..."
Bending over the dying mother, the nurse whispered softly, "tell me
the names of those two friends so I can tell your son if I ever see
him."
With trembling lips and her eyes filled with tears the mother responded, "Tell him those two friends were God and his mother," and she closed her eyes and died.
The Lesson
Suppose one of you had a hundred sheep and lost one. Wouldn't you leave
the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the lost one until you
found it? When found, you can be sure you would put it across your shoulders,
rejoicing, and when you got home call in your friends and neighbors,
saying "Celebrate with me! I've found my lost sheep!"
Count on it__there's more joy in heaven over one sinner's rescued life
than over ninety-nine good people in no need of rescue.
(Luke15:3-7)