Rhona couldn't believe it - Sam had vanished, and all the teacher could think about was who had won the sports day, not even a thought of Sam!
Sam had vanished! The teacher continued and told her all about the presentation to the winners - how exciting!
Rhona closed her eyes, breathed in, breathed out, Calm. Breath. She hung up on the teacher.
Most mornings, Sam liked to walk, and there were also times he wanted to jog, but his commitment to it never lasted long. Where was he?
How could he vanish? Where could he be?
Jesus vanished when he was just twelve years old. They had left their home and, with a pretty much multitude of people, had trudged their way to Jerusalem. It was a special day, apparently, and there would have been lots of friends trudging along with Jesus and his family.
They obviously spent a good deal of time with the crowd and all sorts of people in the Temple praising God and chatting with all and sundry about what following God meant to them.
They spent a few days there, and then Mary, Joseph, and Jesus' brothers and sisters started out to go back home. They obviously trudged along the road with all the other people, and the kids played along with their friends.
At the close of the day, the children came alongside Mum and Dad, obviously looking for something to eat, BUT where was Jesus? The other children were there, but no Jesus!
You can imagine Mary and Joseph! Absolutely distraught! They rushed around among all the other people looking for Jesus. He was nowhere, and no one had actually seen him with the crowd as they made their way home.
How could he vanish? Where could he be?
Rhona had the same horrible feeling that Mary and Joseph felt all those years ago. The missing child! The horrible thoughts running through your minds! Will we even find him?! Where do we even start to look for him?!
She really had no idea where to look. He was good at school, and he enjoyed school. He had lots of friends, and so Rhona decided to call around, but first she had to phone the police.
Mary and Joseph tried everything to find Jesus. Where to look? Who to ask? All a huge mystery! They had to make their way around Jerusalem as best they could.
They had no one to ask. They were new to the city, and now they were on their own. Searching for a boy of just twelve years old. Completely missing.
Rhona called into the local police station. She, through her tears, tried to explain to the sergeant at the desk that her boy was missing, and what did she have to do?
The sergeant was pretty cool about the whole thing, really.
"Now, Rhona, it's like this - your boy is twelve years old, it's not like he is a little boy, he has probably gone to a mate's place, and they have gone off together somewhere. He will probably come home soon, so really all we have to do today is take a note of what you have told us, and we will keep an eye out for him. If he is still missing in the next couple of days, then we will definitely send out a search party for him."
Rhona was completely mortified by what he just said - He really had no idea what she was going through.
Mary and Joseph were getting nowhere looking for their boy. No one had seen him at all.
They obviously tried everywhere looking for him. In those days, there was no one really to take a hand in looking for him. Very much like what Rhona was going through.
Mary and Joseph did not give up; they continued through the night and the next day, then the next day, and then the next day. Obviously, they had left their other children in the safe hands of their friends.
Rhona decided to go home and restart the search for her boy. She was all alone!
She ran out to the garage - the bike was gone! He's gone somewhere on the bike! It must have been in the morning of the school sports day. Why would he do that? Was he going somewhere?
It was getting dark; the day was drawing to a close. Sam would definitely be home now. Something was wrong, really wrong. Where would he go on his bike, and why this morning of all mornings, especially when the sports day was on, his most favourite day!
Joseph and Mary must have wracked their brains trying to consider if Jesus was OK, where would he have gone?
They made their way to the temple - that huge place in the middle of the city - where the leaders of the people of God were!
Rhona took off in her car. She really had no idea where she was going. She came to the busy roundabout. It was quickly getting dark. The roundabout was really busy. Everyone is going home. Lots of headlights all blazing away.
She followed the road towards Hillsend. The traffic was horrendous, with cars speeding to get home, lights blazing in the windows, and horns honking away. She drove on. The road narrowed to one lane, with cars everywhere.
Bushland and scrub on one side of her, cars zooming up behind her, cars going the opposite direction, lights blazing. Tears streamed down her face; she could hardly see. But what was that?
She just caught a glimpse. She quickly pulled on the brakes, much to the alarm of the car directly behind her, and she got blasted for her trouble. It was something shining in the bushland.
Mary and Joseph were utterly dismayed when they slowly made their way to the huge temple. Lots of worrying went on. As they entered the temple and made their way to the interior, they caught a glimpse of many priests gathered around and listening to someone telling them exactly what was going to happen.
It was Jesus! In the middle of the crowd of priests, explaining to all about the very love of God. He was twelve. His parents were awestruck. They listened and finally took him home after three days of searching! Read about it in Luke 2: 41-52.
What was that? Cars zooming past, honking their horns at her, even people yelling at her for pulling to the side of the road. It didn't faze her one bit! It was his bike!
Down in the gully near where the bike had landed, there was Sam, unseen by passing cars, lying in a gully all crinkled up.
Rhona took off. Sliding down into the gully to be with Sam. He was alive but completely unconscious. Obviously, he had either been hit by a car or swerved and fallen. She immediately called for help from the ambulance service.
It took no time at all. The police arrived, the ambulance arrived, and they immediately took him to the hospital. He was quickly admitted and sent to the operating theatre, where he lost his spleen but slowly survived.
As the doctors explained to his mother, it was so fortunate she found him when she did; his life would have definitely been in the balance.
After a few days in the hospital, he couldn't really remember much except that one car just clipped his bike as he was riding. That was all he remembered.
You know the love Mary and Joseph had for Jesus, and also the love that Rhona had for her boy Sam is amazing, and I guess we can all relate to that so well - the love for our families always intrigues me.
No matter what they do or where they go, usually the love we have for our families never stops; it just keeps on going.
That is beautiful in itself, BUT the love God has for you totally and exceedingly outshines the love we have as humans for our families and for everyone else that comes into our lives.
God's love outshines anything this old world has to offer. His love loved us all so much that He sent His son Jesus to die on that cross to pay for our sins and also for any sins we may commit in the future.
All we have to do is accept what Jesus did for us. He took our sins and killed them on that cross years ago. Jesus rose again after three days. All we have to do is accept what He did, paying for all the sins we have committed, and asking Him to come into our lives and lead us.
God's blessings to you this week - see you next time
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