As we walked about Hong Kong and crossed the busy thoroughfares by bridges, it happened that I noticed on one step, red painted Chinese letters. Our companion explained the meaning. The first three letters were a girl’s name; the second three meant, “Please come home.”

Some broken-hearted and distraught parents were obviously using every means to reach out to the prodigal, no doubt hoping that one day she would cross that bridge with downcast eyes. Like Sisera’s mother, looking out of the window for the return of her son, some grieving mother is daily anticipating reunion. A prodigal wandering woefully in a city of seven million. Where does she sleep, how does she exist, how does she earn money? Daily those thoughts would grind in the mind of her parents. Treasure your children.

Although there are some large churches in Hong Kong, many of them are charismatic. And so most of the seven million are prodigals. We, too, must use all legitimate means to reach them and to bring them to our heavenly Father. The church must always be a missionary church, seeking the lost, the weary and the heavy-laden. Oh, brothers and sisters, let us be energised practically and in prayer for the prodigals.