Hole on the Shelf
A journey has begun. A mighty quest. A sacred task. Not since the great hunt for lactose free egg nog in preparation for Christmas ‘24 has there been a mission so essential, of such high consequence as this one I have embarked upon this week.
We found a salad dressing we both really liked. Low in sugar, made even Kale palatable, with the right amount of “zing”, it was perfect. And we were out. So I committed that day to engage the mighty task of buying more.
It makes it sound more fun to dress (see what I did there) up the story like that. But in some ways it’s not far off. I told Monica I would buy more of that salad dressing. On my first shopping trip, I learned that Walmart doesn’t carry it. New information told me this was a Safeway find. So I went to our closest Safeway and while every other of the seventy five varieties of dressing this company produces was right there, one hole on the shelf leaves my quest incomplete.
It sounds silly when I type it up like this, but I promise you, I will keep looking every time I’m in a Safeway (and any other store) until the hunt is complete. I’ll pull into every one I pass just to win this battle.
The egg nog story was no joke. Leading up to Christmas of ‘24, we asked our daughter who lives out of town if there was anything she would like to have. Lactose free egg nog was on the list. I think I drove to every store in town before texting her to tell her it apparently didn’t exist anymore. Then I got back in my car and tried again. I genuinely felt like a knight slaying a dragon when I walked toward the dairy section and in the distance could make out the container I was seeking.
Not every quest for a hard to find grocery item is this urgent or exciting to me. But when it matters to someone I care about, it becomes a mission, a passion, and to be honest, kind of fun to begin the pursuit.
During my two decades of youth ministry, about fifteen of those years were spent working in a church as a youth pastor. I led the games, the worship, and taught the lesson. I planned camps and sat with kids in tough situations. And it was a fun and rewarding job. But then, Todd, the area Youth for Christ director asked me to help him out one week at club. Everything changed.
Youth for Christ (YFC) is an organization who much like YoungLife, Cru, or FCA intentionally engage students in public school settings with the gospel. Part of that for YFC involved the weekly club. I went to help with a game, not knowing what to expect. What I found were twenty five students who didn’t go to church, probably never intended to, but who came to this community center once a week, had a snack, played a game, and then listened to this guy talk about Jesus. All because they experienced Jesus first through Todd and his volunteers.
It was like Jesus had asked me to find lactose free egg nog. All of a sudden this was the hole on the shelf for me. The one I loved was showing me the ones he loved, and whatever it took, I was going to help him find them. That day started five years of amazing ministry walking with Jesus to find those students, one at a time, and share the good news that the one who hung the stars was crazy about them.
More than a decade later, that hasn’t lost it’s hold on me. To see someone come to trust Jesus isn’t about a win for me or the church, but the joy that I know God experiences whenever someone he loves is restored to him.
Luke 15 was transformational for me in this. Jesus tells a series of parables to explain God’s deep love for the lost. First he tells about a shepherd who leaves 99 sheep in the open field to go find the one who wandered away. Then about a woman with ten coins who loses one and turns her house upside down to find it. In both cases these stories end with a party and this commentary by Jesus:
Luke 15:7 and 10 CSB
I tell you, in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who don’t need repentance.
I tell you, in the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents.
Then he tells a story of a son who breaks his father’s heart and runs away. Over time, this young man comes to long for home and finally begins the journey back.
Luke 15:20 CSB
…But while the son was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him.
He ran. If some egg nog and salad dressing can make these women in my life happy and I’m willing to hunt the grocery stores of Southwest Washington to satisfy them, how much more should our hearts be moved by the love of our Father for the ones he’s been looking for.
I said it’s the same ten years later, but that’s not entirely true. Like the older brother in that story, I can get busy doing other things. My priorities can get lost in activity. Sometimes, I’m too busy working for God to remember what…who he’s really looking for. And that it is his joy to invite me and you to be a part of that story and share in his joy.
I will find that salad dressing today. I have a meeting on the far other side of town, so that gives me ample opportunity to hunt shelves all over the place. And when I find it, there will be a party…Ok, there will be a salad.
But my prayer this morning is that this hunt and all the stupid hunts for hard to find grocery items in the future always remind me of a hole on the shelf that the one I love most died to fill.