In one of his earliest books, Max Lucado tells the story about a concerned mom who journeyed to Rio de Janeiro to find her teenage daughter. This ambitious young woman had left their small boring village to find work and the exciting life of the big city. But the mom, knowing the only work available for young peasant girls in the big city, gathered up all of her money, bought a bus ticket and as many small pictures of herself as she could afford.

    In Rio, this determined mom went into every sleazy hotel she could find. She placed pictures of herself on the corner of bulletin boards, bathroom mirrors, and on the front door of many a lobby. On the back of each picture she wrote a few words.

“I still love you! Please come home.”

    Rio is a big city, filled with many houses of desperation. Soon the money and the pictures ran out and the loving mother had to return home to her familiar little house in her peasant village. One day, drawn by some unknown grace, a broken young woman entered the lobby of run down hotel, saw a familiar face in a picture on the corner of the bulletin board. She slowly removed the picture and read the words on the back: “No matter what you’ve done, no matter where you’ve been, I still love you! Please come home.”; She did.

    God was not content to let us ruin our lives in rebellion. While as God he could have denied us the choice to rebel, he chose instead to give us the opportunity to return. Love without choice is not love, just like a god who would not risk rejection could never be a true Father. So God sent us the ultimate valentine. Jesus came and died on the cross to be that unmistakable message from a loving parent to his rebellious children: “;No matter what youve done, no matter where youve been, I still love you! Please come home.” What are you waiting for?

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son…to save the world through him.”
—John 3:16-17