When I was 4 years old I was intrigued by the brolgas that would come and dance at the front of our home, in the outskirts of Winton, Queensland. One day I wandered off with them into the bush and got lost.

My Dad was out of town working and my Mum was frantic and not before long the Police and half the town was out searching for me.

Little boy lost!

Later the next day I was found at a property out of town and taken to the Winton Police. The first thing the Police did was to go to my Mum and tell her the good news!

My Mum was ecstatic! She told everyone…she even rang Dad and friends in Brisbane and England… “Good News! Peter has been found!”

I recall how excited my Mum was when she entered the Police Station and found me sitting on the front counter eating an ice-cream.

In the Book of John, I can sense the Good News that Andrew had found… and that he was bursting to tell someone!

Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus. John 1:40-42

The joy, the excitement, the thrill, the delight when you find something you have been anxiously awaiting… you find it… and you’re bursting to tell someone! Usually it is those closest to you first…like my Mum calling my Dad, like Andrew telling his brother. Then it spreads further a field to family and friends. For years after my Mum told people of the day I was found.

In the famous hymn, Amazing Grace, the words, “Once I was lost, but now I am found” resound in my ears. There is Good News to tell… we have found the Messiah, Christ Jesus!

Did you find Him too? Who did you tell?