Jesus Isn't Hard To Find: Just Ask The Shepherds


The phone call came from Egypt. 

My niece and her husband were returning to the states and needed to be picked up from the airport. I was in Puerto Rico at the time, and my vehicle was much too small to pick up their family of four. On an international call with a poor connection it was explained to my wife where the keys to their SUV would be located in their home. She managed to catch something about the dresser. That's the information I was given. "The keys will be near the dresser."

When I arrived at their home I went upstairs to a bedroom I had never entered in my life to locate the keys. Several minutes later I was headed to the airport. The keys weren't exactly near the dresser. They were in it. I found them in a drawer. The information I had been given was enough. I knew where to look.

One night some shepherds were keeping watch over their flocks by night when an angel arrived. His arrival frightened them initially, but he told them not to fear and then gave them something to look for.

"You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." -Luke 2:12


“So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.” -Luke 2:16

The shepherds found Jesus, and apparently it wasn't all that difficult. That's because they knew where to look.

Sometimes the cares and concerns of life can cause us to lose our focus. If we aren't careful the pressures of life will even cause us to lose sight of Jesus. All we seem to find in these moments are worries and fears. We know the Scriptures teach us to keep our eyes on Jesus, but when life gets dark he can be difficult to locate. You have to know where to look.

We find him in the least of these.

"The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me'." -Matthew 25:40


Jesus taught us that when we give to the poor we give to him. When we visit the sick we visit him. When we help someone whose circumstances are less fortunate than ours we help Jesus himself.

I saw Jesus last week at a nursing home. He didn't speak English, but smiled when I greeted him. I found him in a hillside home on an island. He had lost everything during a hurricane and was happy to see me. I helped him find an address on a street in the Bronx yesterday. He was old and having trouble locating the place.

Whenever I'm down I know I need to find Jesus. When I find him I always feel so much better. He makes me smile and warms my heart. The good news is he's never hard to find.

You just have to know where to look.

Following the Son,

James A Williams

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