My prodigal son has returned...get me my shotgun!

There was a shepherd and he had 100 sheep. One went missing one day. His friends told him not to worry about it was just one sheep. He refused to listen and left the 99 in the fold and went searching for this one lost sheep. He found it, smiled, and then threw it off a cliff.

There was a woman whose dowry (all she owned as a wife) was 10 coins of great worth. She lost one. Instead of ignoring it, she turned her house upside down until she found it. She then went outside and threw it down a well.

There was a father who had two sons. One was ambitious and asked for his inheritance incessantly. The father eventually gave in and the son went to live on his own. The other son stayed home with the father. The run-away son came home having spent every last penny living sinfully. He decided to ask for forgiveness from his father. He went to him and his Father ran out to him. Looking at how filthy his son was, he signaled to the son indoors to bring out the shotgun.

Is this how you're feeling? There is something wrong with these stories! The endings. (I may have gone a bit extreme) When the shepherd found the sheep, he rejoiced and carried it home on his shoulders! Do you think he will cast it out of the flock later because it decided to go astray yet again? The woman finds her coin and celebrates with friends! When she happends to lose it again will she not look for it still? The prodigal son didn't come home to an angry father but a forgiving one. His brother though was upset. He was living "right" and his Father accepted the son who was living "wrong". A brother's standard of living should not be your measure of acceptance by the Heavenly Father.