Her name was Henrietta Geck Cruz Avila. At age 17 she dropped out of high school and began to work at a variety store. Around March or so of 1960, she met a 24 year old man by the name of Merle Avila, and they began to date. After only a month of dating each other, they got married on April 23 and resided in the southern California area. Apparently after only three months of marriage, Henrietta left Merle. When she didn’t contact her parents after leaving Merle, Henrietta’s father reported her missing on August 1 1960. Fast forward almost 60 years later, Henrietta still has not been found.
As sad as this story sounds, what’s even more sad is that Henrietta isn’t the only person who has been missing for nearly 60 years. On a spiritual level, there’s many who have been missing for even MORE than 60 years! What do I mean by that?
In Luke 14:15-23, Jesus tells the story of a man who has prepared “a great supper” for the people he had invited (see verse 16). This man tells his servant to go and tell all the invitees that the supper is ready; but many of them make excuses to not go and attend the feast (verses 18-20). Filled with rage that his generous invitation had been carelessly slighted, the man then tells his servant to invite to his feast “the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind” (verse 21). The servant than does what his master tells him, and afterwards reports to his master that “still there is room” (verse 22). So, the man tells his servant to “go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled” (verse 23).
How does this connect with Henrietta’s story, and how does it apply to us as Seventh-Day Adventist Christian teens in our 21st century lives? The parable Christ told in Luke 14:15-23 symbolizes how we as Christians are to also go “into the highways and hedges” of this world and invite those who are spiritually blind, spiritually poor, etc. to the great supper of the gospel. Here’s how Ellen White puts it in her book Christ’s Object Lessons:
By the great supper, Christ represents the blessings offered through the gospel. The provision is nothing less than Christ Himself. He is the bread that comes down from heaven; and from Him the streams of salvation flow……..In the feast He had provided, God offered to [the Jews] the greatest gift that Heaven can bestow—a gift that is beyond computation. The love of God had furnished the costly banquet, and had provided inexhaustible resources. “If any man eat of this bread,” Christ said, “he shall live for ever.” John 6:51.
–{Christ’s Object Lessons pg. 222
But there are many who–like Henrietta–have been MISSING from this great gospel supper for YEARS! There are some who’ve been missing for their whole lifetime! God tells each of us that we are His witnesses (Isaiah 43:10) and we are to “arise, shine” and let the glorious light of God’s love and truth beam out through our lives to those who are in darkness (Isaiah 60:1). As Seventh-Day Adventist Christian teens who’ve always known Bible truth, will we go forth and be witnesses to those who have been missing from the great gospel feast for YEARS? To reach out to people in our schools, in our neighborhoods, in our churches, and in our cities who are missing and miserable?
Besides the fact that there are many who have been missing from the great gospel supper for many years, I’d like to make another point. There are many people in this world who are not only missing out on the beautiful blessings of the great gospel feast, but also missing out on the HOPE that’s given in partaking of this gospel supper. What do I mean by that? Let me illustrate with this example.
Not too long ago there was an international climate change school strike. Co-leading this whole school climate change strike movement is a 13 year old girl named Alexandria Villasenor. According to an article in The Reader, Alexandria said this concerning climate change:
“If I’m not going to have a future then school won’t matter because we’re going to be running from disasters. We’re not going to have time to go to school because our house will be ruined by the latest hurricane, and [my parents] understand that this is important to my generation because we’re going to have to live in this world.”
–Alexandria Villasenor, emphasis added♣
Did you guys catch that? She is basically saying that one of the biggest reasons why this whole climate change strike movement is important to her and her generation is because THIS world is the ONLY place they’ll ever live on! This brings me to my second point: People don’t have hope. Because so many are missing from the great gospel feast, so many don’t have any hope beyond this present world. So many are NOT ” looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13) because they’ve NEVER KNOWN that there was such hope like that in the first place!
Like Alexandria, they see this world as their ONLY HOPE. As Seventh-Day Adventist Christian teens, will we follow God’s call to each of us to share the “living hope” of Christ and His gospel message to whoever we come in contact with (1 Peter 1:3)?
Friends, time is short. So many are dying for an invitation to the gospel banquet; many have been MISSING–like Henrietta. There’s so many who have no hope, who see this broken, sinful world as their ONE AND ONLY FUTURE–like Alexandria. These people need the gospel invitation; these people need the gospel of hope.
Is it your desire, dear reader, to spread the light of the gospel to all who need it? If so, then I appeal to you to pray the following prayer with me:
I’d like to conclude this post with an inspiring statement from American evangelist Dwight L. Moody:
“There is no greater honor than to be the instrument in God’s hands of leading one person out of the kingdom of Satan into the glorious light of Heaven.”
–Dwight L. Moody
May the Holy Spirit soften our hearts with the love of Christ to step out and lead some Henrietta or some Alexandria to the glorious light of Heavenly love and truth; to lead one missing, hopeless soul to the banquet table of God’s great gospel supper! Amen! Maranatha!
◊For more details on Henrietta, you may click here
♣Germanos, Andrea. “Climate Strike.” The Reader, 2019, p. 19.
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