Maria’s heart was broken when she awoke to find her daughter Christina’s bed empty. Maria knew immediately where her daughter had gone–to the big city! On her way to the bus stop Maria entered a drugstore to get one last thing. She sat in the photograph booth, closed the curtain, and spent all she could on pictures of herself. With her purse full of small black-and-white photos, she boarded the next bus to Rio de Janeiro.
Maria knew Christina had no way of earning money. She also knew that her daughter was too stubborn to give up, and probably what she would have to do for a living. Knowing this, Maria began her search. Bars, hotels, nightclubs, any place with the reputation for street walkers or prostitutes. She went to them all. And at each place she left her picture-taped on a bathroom mirror, tacked to a hotel bulletin board, fastened to a corner phone booth. And on the back of each photo she wrote a note.
It was a few weeks later that young Christina descended the hotel stairs. Her young face was tired. Her brown eyes no longer danced with youth but spoke of pain and fear. Her laughter was broken. Her dream had become a nightmare. A thousand times over she had longed to trade these countless beds for her secure pallet. Yet the little village was, in so many ways, too far away.
As she reached the bottom of the stairs, her eyes noticed a familiar face. She looked again, and there on the lobby mirror was a small picture of her mother. Christina’s eyes burned and her throat tightened as she walked across the room and removed the small photo. Written on the back was this compelling invitation: “Whatever you have done, whatever you have become, it doesn’t matter. Please come home!” And she did!
There is Christina in all of us, but there is also a loving heavenly Father who doesn’t give up. “Come unto me, all ye who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest!” is the invitation for you to “come home.” Do it now!
November/December 1987
(This true story was adapted from Max Lucado’s book, No Wonder They Call Him the Savior.)