RETURN OF THE
Lost Sheep
Learn how to pray
them back into the
Kingdom
By Paul Ahnert
his parents of his decision, his
parents were devastated.
R
oland was raised,
from birth, to be a follower of Jesus Christ.
Home schooled and
taught about the love of Christ
by two parents active in ministry
and committed to the Gospel,
Roland made a profession of
faith at a very young age, demonstrated a deep knowledge
of scripture and exhibited spiritual fruit into young adulthood.
Roland was excited about the
things of God and was active in
ministry... until he wasn’t. After
silently struggling with matters
of faith and crying out to God
for answers, Roland decided
it would just be easier to walk
away from Christianity and disavow himself from the authority
of God. When Roland finally told
Roland’s mom and dad felt lost
and bewildered, never sensing there was a problem with
Roland’s faith. Questions like,
“how could this happen?” and,
“where did we go wrong?”
plagued them as they tried to
fit this new reality into their theology. Roland’s parents had
been completely secure in the
salvation of their older children
and never imagined that their
son would turn away from the
faith. Both parents dealt with
doubt in their own faith as they
began to sort through what this
meant for the family dynamic.
Roland’s mother felted crushed
in her spirit and Roland’s dad
felt betrayed by both Roland
and, to some degree, God.
After the initial shock wore off,
Roland’s folks experienced the
stages of mourning, as if they
had lost a child. Both prayed
constantly for a quick reversal
as each dealt with the denial
stage. The second stage of grief,
anger, did not help the situation.
Anger directed towards Roland,
“for being so stupid,” or “being
so smug” only created tension
in the home and negatively
impacted the younger children.
Roland’s father found himself
praying that God would, “knock
the wind out of Roland’s sails”
and hoping for God’s discipline
to crash down, while Roland’s
mother began to pepper Roland
with questions delivered in a
less than loving manner. During
the third stage of mourning, bargaining, Roland’s father asked
God to trade his soul for that
of his son’s. It was not until the
family could reach the stage
of acceptance that peace was
restored to the home. Roland’s
family eventually returned to
normal and continued being
involved in ministry, though
Roland continued in his rejection of faith. Roland’s family
continues to love Roland and to
pray for his return to the Lord.
RAISE UP A CHILD IN THE
WAY HE SHOULD GO...
The above ac count is far more
common than the church would
care to admit, in fact, recent
studies have concluded that