I'm sure you've heard by now (seeing as it's been a whole week), but Jacob Allen has been found alive in Dolly Sods! He was tired and hungry of course, but otherwise completely fine. There was an amazing response as far as the rescue effort; hundreds of volunteers (dozens and dozens from Chestnut Ridge Church) went to join the professional rescue teams. It was an extremely emotional and surreal week for everyone involved, including we who were praying (Sarah and I were almost literally walking out the door to drive down when we got the news that he'd been found Thursday, almost exactly 4 days to the minute from when he went missing), and looking back now, it's almost like it didn't happen. I saw Jacob in church Sunday (I led worship, and we changed the whole theme of the service to celebrate his homecoming in a day, which is more serious than you can realize because of the amount of people involved in pulling off a CRC service) and he looked fine. I just heard today that he's been smiling more than normal this week (people with autism usually don't show a lot of emotion), and Pastor Bill is convinced that it's because he's been shown how highly valued he is.
This idea was one that Bill has touched on briefly during his reflections on the whole event: that the value of a human life is immeasurable. That when a life is in danger of being lost, many other lives become involved in the effort to preserve the one life. He cited the parable Jesus told in Luke 15 of the lost sheep, whose owner left his other 99 sheep to search for the one; he talked about how much rejoicing there is in Heaven when one 'lost' person's life changes -- more rejoicing, in fact, then there is for 99 'righteous' people whose lives have already been changed! A life being saved is one of the most wonderful and glorious occurrences in the universe.
Bill also mentioned the way in which Jacob Allen's name is know far and wide now. Jacob used to be 'the other Allen brother;' Bill said that his kids couldn't usually remember his name. But now, when there was a threat to this valuable life, suddenly his name became common knowledge, uttered in prayer by thousands, fixed upon by the region and some of the nation for days. Bill likened this recognition of Jacob's name to how we are all given new names in Jesus: Christians, or 'little Christs' literally. God calls our names out of the darkness, and He speaks to us in our 'inner being' with a name that probably can't be pronounced by the human tongue. God had a habit of actually changing people's names throughout the history of the nation of Israel, and it's obvious that He places much significance on the power of a name (His name for Himself, YHWH or 'I AM WHO I AM' suggests great mystery and power and alludes that His real Name is too beautiful for us to hear).
Many lives have been impacted by the search for and rescue of Jacob Allen, and especially those in his church will not soon forget him or his value. May we all place more value on each human life we encounter, even when they don't seem to be in immediate danger!
This idea was one that Bill has touched on briefly during his reflections on the whole event: that the value of a human life is immeasurable. That when a life is in danger of being lost, many other lives become involved in the effort to preserve the one life. He cited the parable Jesus told in Luke 15 of the lost sheep, whose owner left his other 99 sheep to search for the one; he talked about how much rejoicing there is in Heaven when one 'lost' person's life changes -- more rejoicing, in fact, then there is for 99 'righteous' people whose lives have already been changed! A life being saved is one of the most wonderful and glorious occurrences in the universe.
Bill also mentioned the way in which Jacob Allen's name is know far and wide now. Jacob used to be 'the other Allen brother;' Bill said that his kids couldn't usually remember his name. But now, when there was a threat to this valuable life, suddenly his name became common knowledge, uttered in prayer by thousands, fixed upon by the region and some of the nation for days. Bill likened this recognition of Jacob's name to how we are all given new names in Jesus: Christians, or 'little Christs' literally. God calls our names out of the darkness, and He speaks to us in our 'inner being' with a name that probably can't be pronounced by the human tongue. God had a habit of actually changing people's names throughout the history of the nation of Israel, and it's obvious that He places much significance on the power of a name (His name for Himself, YHWH or 'I AM WHO I AM' suggests great mystery and power and alludes that His real Name is too beautiful for us to hear).
Many lives have been impacted by the search for and rescue of Jacob Allen, and especially those in his church will not soon forget him or his value. May we all place more value on each human life we encounter, even when they don't seem to be in immediate danger!
