Ever lost a student?

D and I saw the movie Flightplan tonight. Even though some of the reviews weren't that great, I enjoyed it. One thing that I thoroughly enjoyed (well, enjoyed might not be the right word) was the level of panic that the main character had looking for her child.

This summer during the LC missions trip, while we went out for ice cream, one of the students thought it would be funny to call his mother from the Dairy Queen telling her that the leaders accidentally left him at a gas station. He left her a message on the answering machine. Two hours later when she picked it up, she freaked. I could relate. Needless to say, I nor his mother thought it was such a good joke. I think he got the picture too.

As a fourteen year old junior counselor at a wilderness camp, one afternoon I took some bad advice and took my group the wrong direction on a hike down from a collection of rock outcroppings called Big Schloss. One counselor (me) and 9 eight year olds hiked an extra 6 miles that day, while the rest of the adult leader team searched the ridge for us.

The widow in Luke 15 sweeps the whole house to look for the lost coin. The WHOLE house.

All of this reminds me - we should instill two things in our next generation of mission leaders. First, we need to instill this enormous sense of responsibility for those in their charge. Watch the first 30 minutes of the movie and pay close attention to how absolutely deranged the main character is. She is mental about her child. Pay close attention to your charges, or you will have to deal with a parent like that. Secondly, we need to instill this enormouse sense of responsibility for the lost. For those that may not yet know Jesus, do we - and the teams that we lead - sweep the whole house looking for them?