“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?”
–Luke 15:4 (NIV)

Like many of you, I was saddened to learn of the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, and have followed the search for her. The notion of anyone kidnapping an eighty-four-year-old is disturbing. What’s more, the depravity of those who submitted gaslit ransom notes is beyond the comprehension of any reasonable human.

Ms. Guthrie’s case has received tremendous attention. Yes, she’s the mother of a major network television host, so that explains the enhanced coverage of, and interest in, the case. Think back to the kidnapping of Charles Lindberg’s toddler son–the “crime of the century”–or the disappearance of Amelia Earhart somewhere over the Pacific Ocean.

But more compelling than the fact that her daughter has achieved tremendous success in television is the simple fact that Ms. Guthrie is the medically-at-risk mom of three children, all of whom have poured their hearts out in social media posts, begging for some communication that would lead to their mom’s rescue. What commands and deserves our attention is the disruption of a family’s life and the likely harm to an elderly woman who, by all accounts, did nothing to deserve such a fate. We empathize, because it could happen to any family and, in fact, it does.

If there’s a silver lining to this case, it’s the tremendous response law enforcement has given to finding Ms. Guthrie. While there’s likely no love lost between President Trump and the network that employs Savannah Guthrie, the president called her last week and promised he would marshal every federal resource to help her find her mom.

This, after all, is a moment that rises well above partisan, political bickering. This is a moment when we demonstrate our basic humanity–when the strength of the good outweighs and overcomes the weakness of the evil.

But, while Ms. Guthrie’s disappearance has garnered so much attention, we would be remiss if we forget that thousands of adults and children go missing every year–some killed, but many sold into lives of labor or sex slavery. Again, our government and some private organizations are doing what they can to bring those victims home.

I’m reminded of the parable of the lost sheep, where Jesus used the metaphor of a shepherd leaving his flock to search for one lost sheep. Risk the ninety-nine to look for the one? Crazy, right? Not at all. Are we not called to do the same? Of course. That was the whole point of the parable. That’s what we’re seeing in this search for a vulnerable, elderly lady, and I know we’d see the same response were it anyone else, regardless of their publicly-recognized surname.

My pastor uses a phrase I borrowed for my second book: “The only thing worse than being lost, is being lost and thinking that no one is looking for you.”

I pray Ms. Guthrie and the many lesser-known kidnapping victims somehow know an entire nation is looking for them, and praying they’ll be found.