Luke 15:11-32 tells a wonderful parable that included the story of the Lost Son, sometimes referred to as the Prodigal Son. It is full of comfort and hope for the lost in Christ to regain their royal robes when they return to the Father. But there is much more to the story.

This story tells of a rebellious and reckless-then-repentant younger son who squandered his premature inheritance, shamefully living a life of luxury. After he runs out of money and a famine hit the land where he is living, he is reduced to feeding the pigs and eating… Read more

1. First and foremost, know that this can happen to any family. It doesn’t matter if you are the “perfect” parents and have done everything right. It can happen to pastors and church leaders. It can happen to rich or poor. Remember you can’t change the past. You are responsible for today and the future.

2. Tough love may be required. If they are old enough to leave home, let them go. Sometimes they need to experience the freedom. Sometimes they need to hit bottom before they start to look up. As it is with any addict, they cannot… Read more

But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him
and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him..
— Luke 15:20

My husband told me, I am the expert on the prodigal. Before you begin to wonder what I’ve done, how bad it was when I finally came to my senses, let me qualify that statement.

Previous years have built to a heartbreaking crescendo. The last two and a half years have been near torture for our family. If ever… Read more

by Glenys Robyn Hicks
Reprinted with permission from
www.achristianhome.org

You know, childbirth is not the most severe pain you can experience as a woman. I believe being the mother of a prodigal child is! Even more so when they are now adults! The pain the mother of a prodigal suffers never goes away, for the love that God placed in our hearts for them from birth rarely dies. The natal cord still remains long after a child’s birth – the invisible cord of love and bonding that make up a mother’s love for her child. Only… Read more

Reprinted with permission from www.achristianhome.org

Do you watch at the window?

Do you stand at the door?

Do you wait by the silent phone?

You are not alone in keeping the candle burning for your young or old wayward child to come down the lane and back into your life or back to faith in the Lord Jesus. You are not alone as you daily wait at the gates of heaven in prayer for your prodigal child.

Fathers and mothers of prodigals have very much in common; and, incidentally, most all prodigals or wayward’s… Read more

by Pamela Spurling
Reprinted with permission from
www.achristianhome.org

The topic I feel led to share tonight transcends cultures, language and socio-economic boundaries or barriers. When a child wanders out of the way, it doesn’t matter what you’ve got, what you know or what you don’t. It doesn’t matter what you’ve planned or what you hoped would happen. It doesn’t matter where you live or where you’ve been, when a child wanders out of the way, it is a heaviness only a mother or dad of a wayward child knows. It’s a very very lonely road sometimes.… Read more

“Come let us return to the Lord He has torn us to pieces but He will heal us; He has injured us but He will bind up our wounds. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in His presence. Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge Him. As surely as the sun rises, He will appear; He will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.”
— Hosea 6:1-3

As I read the whole chapter of Hosea… Read more

by Marian Sloan
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Are you blinded by the world?

Are your thoughts not of His?

Do you go upon your way without a thought for Him?

Then wrong you are for joy will never be within your life.

He came to save the world for heaven is to be your home.

The emptiness is replaced by Him, who is your constant friend,

So open your heart, and ask Him in, and He will never leave you.

By: Mary Wiebe

The day had awoken bright and new
long was this sleepless night
I laid back down to think of him
what must his life be like

Three months had passed and still no sign
of the young one who walked away
His mother was always looking to see
if his return would be that day

Tears, oh the tears, my constant friends
my heart was burdened with pain
The loss of him was just too great
there seemed nothing left to gain

My days and nights turned into… Read more

The theme of this issue has been in the thought process for several months. It still amazes me when someone sends a story about a topic that I’ve been working on and they have no idea of that topic.

The Prodigal Child story has been on my heart a lot lately with singing one of Chalice’s newest recordings, “When God Ran,” which tells the prodigal story in an enlightening way.

Everywhere we sing the song, someone comes up to us and shares who they have now or have had in the past, a prodigal child.

I think we… Read more