“Want me to come get you?” This was the message Adam, my cousin’s son, sent me during the recent winter storm, when driving was treacherous. He lives about 400 miles away, but he was willing to jump into his truck and head north if I needed him. He also offered to help me secure Mr. Fuzzy in the cat carrier, no easy task.  

The message brought tears to my eyes, because facing a storm alone can be challenging, to say the least. The lack of human contact for days on end becomes wearying, and you keep wondering what you’ll do if the power goes out.  

I assured Adam, my knight in shining armor, that I didn’t need help right then, but would alert him if things got worse. His kindness reminded me of Jesus, who routinely rescued people from harrowing situations.  

The woman caught in adultery was facing a grisly execution by men ready to hurl stones at her.  

Jesus saves the woman by pointing out the men’s hypocrisy. “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her” (Jn 8:7). Imagine the relief and gratitude the woman felt, when the men put down the rocks and walked away.  

Then there is the poor widow, who is faced with the nightmare of burying her only son. Jesus takes compassion on her when he sees her weeping. He brings the young man back to life, thereby rescuing the widow from a life of poverty and sorrow.  

Jesus explained his mission in Matthew’s Gospel: “The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost “(19:10). We see a vivid example in the story about the Good Shepherd, who searched for the one little sheep that strayed. The shepherd could have done a cost-benefit analysis and figured it wasn’t worth his time.  

We might at times feel anonymous before God, because we are one individual among billions on Earth, but the parable shows how each person is precious in God’s eyes. God really does see every sparrow that falls to the ground. He is aware of every lamb that leaves the fold.  

I was the poster child for a rebellious, angry lamb in my college years. As a philosophy major, I knew all the arguments for atheism by heart, but I ignored the restlessness in my own heart that hinted life had more to offer.  

For decades, I ran from God like poet Francis Thompson, who wrote: “I fled Him, down the nights and down the days; I fled Him, down the arches of the years; I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways of my own mind; and in the midst of tears I hid from Him.”  

Thompson sees God as a relentless lover, who eventually won him over. As for me, one day I found myself on my knees in church, uttering my first prayer in years.  

“Want me to come get you?” is a reminder that Christ will always save us, whether from an illness, injury or storm. He will even rescue people like me, who gave up on him. He may come to us disguised as a shepherd or a fisherman. He also might show up as a young man driving a truck over icy roads through a winter storm.