DEVOTION: Have You Seen My Son? ~ by Kathi Macias

His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously” (Luke 2:48).
Any of us who are parents know the anxiety we feel when we lose sight of our children, even for a moment. I remember a couple of years ago when my husband and I took our grown kids, their spouses, and their children to Sea World for the day. Everyone had a great time, but as the day wore on, my “grandma feet” were anxious to find a place to rest. While everyone else went on to see yet another exhibit, my youngest son, Chris, and I opted to sit down in the children’s play area and relax while Chris’s five-year-old son, Tyler, and his seven-year-old cousin, Chazz, ran off some excess energy.

It sounded like a good plan until Chris and I suddenly realized we could no longer see the boys. In a split second, they seemed to have vanished into thin air. Terrified, I began to pray, as I watched my son’s face go pale. “Stop everything!” he shouted. “My son is missing!”

An illogical response, of course, since the world wasn’t about to stop while he searched for his missing child, but a natural one, no doubt. When your offspring, the child of your heart, disappears, nothing else matters except finding him and knowing he is safe.

I believe Mary felt exactly that way when she realized her twelve-year-old Jesus was not with them as she and Joseph, along with many others, returned from the feast in Jerusalem. I can easily picture this frantic mother, scurrying from one spot to another, crying out, “Have you seen my son? Have you seen Yeshua?”
For you see, Mary didn’t call her son Jesus. She called Him Yeshua, meaning “God’s salvation” or “salvation from God.” 

Think about it. As she searched for her child, she was literally asking, “Have you seen God’s salvation?” And she was asking it of people who were familiar with the meaning of Yeshua’s name.

Have you seen God’s salvation? If so, have you dedicated your life to opening the eyes of others so they too might see it? It’s so easy to get off-track and start writing or preaching or teaching other things—even good things—apart from that central truth. But it is only in and around that central truth—proclaiming and showing forth God’s salvation, Yeshua—that anything else has meaning.

Whatever we are called to do today—write, preach, teach, drive a truck, care for a loved one—may the focus of all we say and do be to show forth Yeshua, God’s great salvation, to a world that has no other hope.

Oh, and yes, we found Tyler and Chazz—happily swimming in a shallow pool of freezing cold water under a waterfall. Being the devoted grandmother that I am, I immediately took them to a gift shop and spent a month’s salary on two matching Sea World sweat-suits. And they were worth every penny….

Kathi Macias is a multi-award winning writer who has authored nearly 40 books and ghostwritten several others. A former newspaper columnist and string reporter, Kathi has taught creative and business writing in various venues and has been a guest on many radio and television programs. 

Kathi is a popular speaker at churches, women’s clubs and retreats, and writers’ conferences. She won the 2008 Member of the Year award from AWSA (Advanced Writers and Speakers Association) and was the 2011 Author of the Year from BooksandAuthors.net. Kathi “Easy Writer” Macias lives in Homeland, CA, with her husband.