CODE ADAM is a rapid recovery program used when someone reports a lost or missing child. Speed is the key. The longer a child is missing the greater the level of danger. You’re going to want to hang in all the way through today, because the physical and the spiritual applications could help you save a life.
Welcome to “Mornings with Bishop Robert” and today’s message on life saving. My goal is to introduce people to the Jesus they never knew, and help them get to know Him and His word personally – and better ! So watch or listen to the end, then please like, subscribe and share it with a friend!
Originally developed by Walmart for use in the United States and Canada, the CODE ADAM program is now used in over 30 countries. When a child is reported missing, a CODE ADAM broadcast is announced with a detailed description, and several things happen all at once. All exterior doors are locked and monitored. Every employee stops all other work to search for the child, and many customers voluntarily join in. Bathrooms, dressing rooms and other areas where someone could hide are specifically checked by management and security personnel. Ten minutes is all they get to locate the missing child or law enforcement is notified.
But not all missing kids are abducted. Even though many missing children have decided to run away, they are still in more danger than they realize. The bottom line is this – WHY they’re at risk is not the point. Getting missing children out of harm’s way and back to safety is. In fact, that’s all that truly matters.
Today’s verse says EVEN NOW, DECLARES THE LORD, RETURN TO ME WITH ALL YOUR HEART.
Yes, it’s the RETURN part that is critical. Parents want to get their kids back safely regardless of how, why or when the child went missing. Even if the child doesn’t realize they are missing!!!
You might wonder how that could be possible. I’ll use Julian Hernandez as an example. When he was just five years old, Julian disappeared. Police tried unsuccessfully to find him, and eventually the case went cold. It took 13 years for Julian to discover that he had been kidnapped. While trying to apply for college, he found that his Social Security number did not match his name. Following a hunch, a school counselor helped Julian search the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children database and found out the truth. Up until that point Julian had not realized that he was lost, so he wasn’t trying to get back home. But for all of those years, Julian’s mom was at home and she never gave up searching for her son. Once he knew the truth, he couldn’t wait to be reconnected to his mom.
The CODE ADAM program was created in memory of 6-year-old Adam Walsh, who was tragically abducted from a Florida department store and later found murdered. It’s so effective that it’s able to reunite families over 97% of the time.
Let me tell you a story of another CODE ADAM. This one takes place in a garden, not a store. Like many abducted children, this Adam is tricked into trusting his deceiver. It costs him his life. But the garden is Eden, the life he loses is first spiritual, then physical. Like every story of every abducted child, the impact is felt by the entire family. And, in this case, that includes you and me. A part of us dies with Adam; the spiritual part.
Like any good father, God has never given up on the search for His children. So He tells us EVEN NOW, RETURN TO ME WITH ALL YOUR HEART.
When Julian discovered that he’d been kidnapped, lied to, and kept from his family, he did everything he could to return home. He wanted his REAL home, not the lie that had been presented to him. His mother — his REAL mother — was waiting for the day she could be reunited with the child who’d been stolen from her. Let’s not think that our Heavenly Father has any less affection for His missing and exploited children than we have towards ours. If your son or daughter were taken from you, when would you stop looking? How long would you plead for their return? What price would you consider too great? The answer is that you’d never stop looking and no price would be too high – including your own life.
That was the ransom Christ paid. And He wants to get you back to safety regardless of how, why or when you went missing. It doesn’t matter if you never knew that you were created in His image and called to be His child, He still wants you to come home. It doesn’t matter if you decided to run away and be rebellious, He still wants you to come home. He wants you to do all you can to return to Him.
Yes, it’s the RETURN part that is critical. It’s time to come home.
