Jesus has a different approach to math than the usual person. A 99 percent return is pretty great. Why, in fact, would you run after the one percent when you have the 99?

And yet, here we are, preparing for the birth of a poor baby in a stable 2,000 years ago. His parents were nobodies, and He never traveled much beyond a fifty-mile radius of His home. And yet, that baby impacted the whole world.

There’s no telling what the one percent includes. Jesus pushes the border, and maybe it feels a little over the top when you stop to think about it. 

But there’s hope beyond hope. Your heavenly Father cares about the one. He cares as much about the one as He does about the 99. You aren’t just a number to Him, one of many. You are loved and cherished so much that He will drop everything to come and find you. 

Even if it means He has to be born in a stable. Even if it means He has to hang on a cross. Even if it means you’re too busy to notice Him.

Christianity embraces something more than what makes sense. In that, there is freedom, and there is joy. Smile today as you think about that.