Claimed, gathered and sent

Today I led worship and preached at nearby Zion Lutheran Church in Baker, WV. The text I preached from is Isaiah 49:8-16 .             I have two grown children. Though it now seems like a blur, I sometimes think about their early months of life. Everyone knows people who have such good babies . They don’t cry much, they just seem so happy. They sleep at night. I know those kinds of babies exist, but I didn’t have them.   My firstborn, Sarah cried for the first 6 months of her life. She would be fed, dry, and seemingly have all her needs met…yet she would cry and cry and cry. After a while, I cried too. The only way to settle her down was to walk her. I walked and walked and walked. I felt like I would never sleep ever again or eat another meal in peace. Yet as my daughter, I wanted to do everything in my power to take care of her and let her know how much I cared about her.              In our reading from Isaiah, we see God as a loving, caring, providing parent. I have to admit