A few years ago my wife was walking down a hall in our church and passed a table that held many small items on it that had been found in the church. As she passed someone made the comment about a nice pocket watch some one had lost. She stopped. went back to see the watch. Guess what? It was mine and I had lost it a couple years before. The watch had been given to me as a Christmas present by a couple that was in my Sunday School class. When I first missed the watch I just knew it was somewhere at our house. It never occurred to me that it could have been somewhere different. The watch was found close to the point it was lost.

When we lose or forget something, sometimes we get so caught up in everyday life that we may lose sight of why we are doing what we do. In our attending church, going to work, taking care of our families and the many things for which we are accountable, we lose sight of all the things around us. We just keep trying to get our list of responsibilities accomplished and fail to see or recognize what is happening around us. We assume everything is in its place and functioning properly. We don't realize that we have lost or misplaced something important.

I remember seeing a church sign that had this message on it, " When God seems far away guess who moved ?" In our hectic everyday life with all of the demands made on us we sometimes operate on autopilot. By this I mean we do many things without thinking of what and why we are doing them and one day we suddenly wake up and can't realize where we are. 

I remember driving home from work one day thinking very deeply about a problem I was facing. I suddenly looked around and wondered how I had reached my home and could not remember driving the last four or five miles as I was so caught up in my circumstances.
 
"After the Feast was over, his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began to look for him among their relatives and friends." Luke 2:43-44 NIV
 
Where do we look.  I believe this happens in our spiritual lives just as it happened with Joseph and Mary on their way home. They probably were talking about all they had seen and the experiences they went through. As they traveled with friends and family they assumed that Jesus was with them. They didn't see him but they thought he just had to be close by. Maybe we get to this place sometimes. We are in such a fast paced lifestyle we seem to assume that Jesus is close by even without knowing for sure. At some point God seems to wake us up and suddenly we seem far away from Christ. Usually we do as Mary and Joseph did, we start looking for him where we thought he should be. We look to family, friends and surroundings hoping to locate his presence. We need to stop looking where we assumed he would be and seek him where he always will be. About his father's business in the place God has placed him. Have you misplaced Jesus in your hectic daily life? It is something to think about.
 
N. D. Kennedy Sr.
Ooltewah