DELIBERATE

May 9, 2026

Yesterday, my wife and I went to Meijer to buy some grocery items. We found everything we needed, including avocados. We got back home and when we unpacked the bag, Hyemi asked, “Where are the avocados?” “They are in the plastic bag,” I replied. Well, Hyemi came home with a paper bag. It turns out, when we were at the self check out, I put the two avocados in the plastic bag, which Hyemi didn’t see, and she put the rest in the paper bag. We left the avocados there.

I called the store immediately, and told them what we did. The store rep calmly told me that it was no problem and that I could come back to get what I had left. Clearly, this must happen quite often at the grocery stores. One might say, it’s just a couple of avocados. It would cost more gas and my time to go back to grab them. But, I wanted my avocados. So the following morning, I stopped by Meijer after dropping off my girls at school to pick up my avocados. It was deliberate action on my end.

“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?” Luke 15:4. It’s only one sheep out of a 100, one might say. Or it would be risky and dangerous for the shepherd to go find that one sheep, others might say. But, the Shepherd always goes back for that one sheep. Deliberate and determined. That is our Jesus, who always comes back for us.