Today you get all three of Luke 15's lost-and-found stories: a sheep on a shepherd's shoulders, a coin swept from the corners, and the son who came home rehearsing a speech his father never let him finish.

But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran. If you learn one verse this month, let it be that one.

The father in the story breaks every rule of offended dignity: he watches the road, runs in public, interrupts the confession, and orders a feast before the boy has bathed. That is Jesus' portrait of God receiving sinners, drawn while religious men muttered about the company He kept. The manna stopped in Joshua because the feast had begun; the pods stop mattering when the fattened calf is served.

Two children are lost in the parable, one in a far country, one in the front yard, and the father goes out to both. Whichever son you are today, distant and ashamed or dutiful and resentful, the running is toward you. Come to your senses, come to the table, and let the music start.