I once saw a book sitting on the shelf of someone I cared for that was about life after marrying a “prodigal son,” apparently giving advice to spouses of such terribly labeled people. If you have been in church circles long enough you have surely heard prayer requests for all the “prodigal sons,” usually referring to adult children who were raised to know better but then went off into drugs and alcohol or some grossly sinful lifestyle. What if these conceptions are completely missing the heart of the parable? In the parable it shows one of the most beautiful pictures of repentance, as one author stated, “A sorrow unto life is a merger of the bitterness that arises from breaking God’s heart and the sweet joy of being restored to His embrace… Repentance decreases shame, increases passion, and welcomes restoration.” If you don’t think you were ever a prodigal son, you will never understand what it means to truly repent and to be met with open arms by the Father. The parable said the father ran… as the song “When God Ran” so perfectly stated “He ran to me, He took me in His arms, Held my head to His chest, Said “My son’s come home again!” Lifted my face, Wiped the tears from my eyes, With forgiveness in His voice He said “Son, do you know I still love You?” The parable shows the heart of the Father, our Father in heaven, that the moment we turn to Him, He welcomes us with open arms, with joy and forgiveness… the love of the Father knows no bounds, it keeps no record of wrongs, is slow to anger, quick to forgive and rejoices in the truth. The parable says “For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found” Luke 15:24. Ephesians 2 lays out this exact description of what we were all like before Christ, “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience- among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind”… was this just those awful people we know, those “prodigal son’s?” or was it as the verse says “we all”… verse 4 goes on “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ- by grace you have been saved… so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” God showed his great love and reached out to us in sending His son Jesus, He proved that He is the loving Father we all desire in our deepest being. When I was far off and did not love Him, He loved me and made a way for me, that a wretch like me could come and pray to a Holy God and cry “Abba, Father, Daddy and Friend” …I was a prodigal son… and He ran to me.