A man is designed to take on but one task at a time. My wife should have used better judgment when she asked me to watch my 3-year-old while I was grilling.

I did what most men would do: I delegated the task to my oldest son, Caden. Several minutes went by as I grilled and my son played in the back yard. Then something caught my eye: a bird feeder in need of repair.

It would only take a few seconds to fix, so I flipped the steak and got to work. I needed another set of hands, so I called Caden over to help me.

A few seconds turned to a few minutes, and then Mama stood on the porch and asked the question that sent us into a frenzy: “Where is Corder?”

Of course my attempts of trying to blame Caden fell on deaf ears, and the task force was mobilized to find Corder, who has a habit of playing hide and seek without telling anyone else.

At first the search was nonchalant. But after a few minutes it became a little more frantic, and then it was time to call the neighbors for reinforcement and expose my irresponsibility. All of a sudden the bird feeder and the internal temperature of the steak were not that important.

Can you imagine my wife’s reaction if I’d said, “Oh, don’t worry about him. He is just one life. We have two other sons. He will turn up in a few days. Someone else will most likely find him wandering around. Let’s have dinner.”

Isn’t that ridiculous — or does it sound too familiar?

How nonchalant are we as believers with seeking out those who are lost? How often do we assume someone else is responsible to reach out to those in our community? When will we stop allowing trivial distractions to keep us from engaging those far from God?

It’s tragic to be lost, but the greater tragedy is being lost when no one is looking for you.

The good news of the kingdom is … life. The kingdom provides restoration of life now as well as eternal life to come. If you are pro-life, start being a life-advocate among the broken. Live a life focused on the one task of making disciples of those far from God. Stop concentrating on your church’s potluck dinners, and open your home to your lost neighbors. Seek the lost with the fervor that Jesus described in the parables of the lost coin and the lost son.

Corder is alive and well. We found him in the garage refrigerator with the door slightly open. It seems the temptation of a popsicle was too much for him to handle. Good thing we found him when we did. We had steak to eat.

I’ll remind him of this story one day when he is looking for my grandchild.

— If you struggle with sharing Jesus with someone close to you, consider reading “Close Encounters” by Lee Clamp, available at CourierPublishing.com.