46 Then, after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. Luke 2:46 (NAS)

My parents lost me in a Sears and Roebuck store. They were terrified. I was looking for my balloon. We lost our son in a similar setting and we were terrified. We found him in the toy department to which he had returned. Our good friends and parents of five children left one at a rest stop. You can imagine the frantic U-turn in the median. My aunt and uncle lost my cousin on the midway of the state fair. They were exceedingly terrified. He was found riding a ride. We all can understand the extreme anxiety that strikes us like a bolt of lightning when we cannot account for our children. Think about losing Jesus for three days! It was a mere foretaste of his resurrection perhaps. Soberingly, the Lord’s presence in his Father’s house speaks volumes about how brief our role is as parents in light of what the future holds. We are brief custodians in the grand scheme of things. One thing is for certain, as parents we never lose the fear of losing our children. Best to drop them off early in the presence of the Lord, or better on his lap.