Jesus told a parable about a lost son. We can find it in Luke 15, starting with verse 11:
The Parable of the Compassionate Father

1.22.12 – Pardon Me!

Parents have you ever had this happen? You get on to your little one for something they have done wrong and the child looks at you and says something like, “I didn’t know.” And you’re pretty incredulous. How could someone not know it was wrong to put a stuffed animal in the toilet? How could they not know that whacking the flowers with a plastic golf club was wrong?

I know you’ve seen these: The ‘CoExist’ Bumper stickers. How do you feel about them?
I’ll tell you... they anger me. And worry me a bit.
CoExist! They shout! It’s a commandment on a piece of royal blue vinyl. “Have your religion, but don’t forget that it’s in every one's best interests if you don’t believe that yours is the only path to truth. Peace is the only value that really matters, and we’d Really prefer it if you kept your faith to yourself to avoid all that nasty conflict”

1.15.12 – Sally got married at eighteen to a guy that wasn’t the town’s favorite. But she was “blinded by love” and entered into the union. Sally married Will and it immediately proved to be a mistake. He was a slave driver, a crook, and an all-around bum. But Sally stayed with him because she thought that was what she was supposed to do.

1.8.11 – Abraham Lincoln is reported to have said, “Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on them personally.”

And, over the centuries, many have tried to use the Bible as a justification for their practice of slavery. I have often found it interesting that those who use the Bible as their justification for having slaves have always ignored the parts of the Bible about how to treat a slave.

1.1.12 – I don’t know if you have made a New year’s Resolution, but if you have, how do you intend to carry it out? Let’s think about a few typical ones and see how they might be addressed.

Lose weight – Eat right and exercise, right? It’s more than that, though, isn’t it? For a lot of us, one of the key components of that “eat right” part is to cut out the snacking. Also desserts. If this is your resolution, today’s fellowship meal might be a hard place to start, huh?

12.25.11 - Even if you love this holiday, you may come to this day with a sense of relief more than anything else. You went shopping for the perfect gift and even if what you present this afternoon doesn’t turn out to be the perfect gift, you’re just glad to be done! Maybe you’re even one of those people who hits the after-Christmas sales, but that’s kind of fun because you don’t have to! And at the sale you find a gift that would be great for next year, or someone’s birthday that’s coming up soon.

The perfect gift. Is it really out there?

James 1:17

12.18.11 – I bet table runners weren’t invented to be table runners. I bet the first person who sewed a table runner was trying to create a tablecloth, but they didn’t measure it right and came up with a cloth that was narrower than the table. So they told all their friends, “Look what I invented!

“In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”
Dwight David Eisenhour

This past week was the 70th anniversary of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor and the declaration of war that led us into World War 2. We remember December 7th, 1941 as a ‘Day that will live in infamy’, when Japan decided to attack the United States.

We’ve all seen footage, both from the actual event and subsequent recreations- how the Japanese planes kept coming and coming and the brave Americans who fought against this invasion.

12.11.11 – I remember seeing a skit when I was little. In it, there was a guy who kept lamenting, “It’s all the fault of Adam.” Whenever anything went wrong in his life—and things were constantly going wrong—he’d complain, “It’s all the fault of Adam.” He appeared to be a very religious man, at least in that he knew the story of Genesis and how sin entered the world.