Woo whoop

God will search us out when we get lost and rejoice when we come home

Nowadays, I’m pretty sure all kids have microchips embedded under their skin, or maybe they are all on leashes—or, at the very least, a designated parent can track the toddler’s iPhone 15.

But back in my day, if a parent needed to find you in a busy area, they just hollered at you.

Or, in my dad’s case—whistled.

Sort of.

While my dad could whistle, it was not a skill his sons inherited (though I do recall briefly being able to whistle around ‘09, until the talent was again lost). No training nor practice could equip my brother and me with the ability to actually ring out a whistle.

So somehow, a practice developed in our family where, instead of whistling properly, we’d do our closest approximation that didn’t require you tongue to do anything special. It sounded like “woo whoop.” This cry would be our special way to contact each other over long distances—when we split up in the store, or it was time to leave at the park, or we hid under the table at the holiday fair where my dad was selling books and he’s lost track of us…

Woo whoop!

Anyone could whistle at their kids, but not in the Doberenz household. We were so much cooler. When I heard the call, I always knew my dad was nearby and I could travel his way.

I’m sure I’ll hear him woo whoop when I meet him again in Heaven. That’ll be the day.

This is who I want to be when I grow up

But while I’m still serving my time here on earth, where cell phones now take the place of “woo whoop-ing,” I’m reminded of another Father who calls me when I get lost. Because, Lord knows, sometimes I veer off, but luckily for me, God is always seeking me.

There are few places where this conviction is clearer in Scripture than in a collection of parables by Jesus, neatly and deliberately organized in Luke 15. This lineup includes such bangers as the Parable of the Lost Sheep, the Parable of the Lost Coin, and the Parable of the Lost Son. The top of the chapter sets up these three parables by explaining that some Pharisees and teachers of the law were grumbling that Jesus was hanging out with sinners. In their own ways, each parable addresses this complaint.

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The Parable of the Lost Sheep depicts a shepherd who cares so much about one single sheep that he ventures out to find it, leaving the 99 sheep alone, and then throws a whole block party when he does. We don’t know anything about the sheep in this story; it just was “lost.” Did it think the grass was greener on the other side? Was it distracted while the rest of the flock left the pasture? Was it lured away by a cartoonish wolf? We don’t know. What we do know, as Jesus explains, is that Heaven rejoices over the one sinner who repents.

The sheep isn’t expendable. The shepherd searches and searches for that sheep—maybe he’s whistling for it, maybe even “woo whoop-ing”—because each sheep matters. Likewise, we are to understand that Jesus prioritizes those who are lost. The “found” ones can mostly take care of themselves.

Then, in the Parable of the Lost Coin, a similar situation happens. A woman has ten silver coins, loses one, and launches a search and rescue operation to find which couch cushion it snuck down into. When it’s found, she throws a ball over the simple coin (each coin worth approximately $60 in today’s money). And again, we are told that similarly, Heaven rejoices over repentant sinners.

Most of us probably would search for $60 if we misplaced it. That’s worth it. But what if we turn things up a notch? Consider the anecdote about Bill Gates, that it’s literally not worth his time to pick up a $100 bill he dropped because he makes way more than that in the time it would take him to bend down. Yet, these two parables reveal that God is the type of God who WOULD bend down and pick up that bill—the bill representing a single person. No matter how many people God already has on the team, God still values the individual.

Finally, the Parable of the Lost Son shows us the first example of the “lost” thing willingly being lost. We dub this one the Parable of the Prodigal Son because “prodigal” is an old-fashioned term meaning wasteful—since the son does take his inheritance and spends it all unwisely. Eventually, the son comes to beg and what do we have here, it’s another celebration! So, while in this one we don’t see the lost thing being searched for, we still have an example of how joyous it is when the lost is found, when sinners repent.

And in this story, we get to see what would happen if one of the 99 sheep or the 9 coins could talk. Where’s the party for those that never left? But as the father explains in Luke 15:31-32, “My son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.”

With all the humans running around, you may expect God to not care so much about us as individuals. Many of the Ancient Near East gods were like this. Ra wouldn’t miss you if you had a “Thoth phase.” Marduk would never be caught dead saying “I love you.” Baal couldn’t have cared less about your name—as long as he got those sacrifices!

Yet, each individual matters to God. And that’s why Jesus is all about the sinners. The whole mission is to get them to repent, for their names to be written in the Book of Life. God seeks us when we are lost and rejoices when we come back because of that care. Whether we are distracted or tempted or willingly choose to go crazy, God wants us!

There’s this really obscure verse in Scripture that no one has ever heard of that comes to mind: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:16-17). Not a bad one—maybe football players could paint the verse reference on their faces or something.

When I separated from my parents to grab the peanut butter but didn’t find them in the aisle where I left them, I suppose my parents could have said, “Oh well, we have another kid. Let’s leave.” But out of love, they sought me out. Out of love, my dad would holler the Doberenz Family signature woo whoop so I could return. Just as I could count on my family finding me, I know I can count on God.

It brings me great comfort, even when I spiral into my darkest of days, that God will always seek me and celebrate me. I’m not just another pretty face. I matter to God.

And so do you.

Question of the Week

Leave your answer in the comment section below or reply to this email.

Why do you think it’s so challenging for the “ones who aren’t lost” to see the lost ones be celebrated on the return?

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Woo whoop,

Jake Doberenz

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