I will set out and go back to my father.
—Luke 15:18
In his book Sky Pilot, Ralph Connor tells of a young man who deserted his Christian home in Scotland and strayed to a far country of sin and shame.
As he lay dying an early death due to his debauchery, the wayward son read a letter from his mother that had recently come to him. It ended: “And oh! Davie laddie, if ever your heart should turn homeward, remember the door stands widely open.”
That mother’s letter mirrors the touching message of the Parable of the Prodigal Son: the loving father keeps the door widely open, and the angels of God gather to joyfully welcome the prodigal who repents and returns.
God keeps an open door
for the homesick prodigal.