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• Jesus' words to his parents: "Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?"

• Imagine your feelings if your 12-year-old child was missing for three days.
  -Illustration: Hestenes and her husband frantically waited up for their teen daughter who was late coming home from a babysitting job around the time the Hillside Strangler was killing young women in that area.
• Mary and Joseph immersed Jesus in the traditions of Passover and their faith.
• They couldn't find Jesus because they weren't looking in the right places.

• Mary is a very human mother of a very perplexing son.
• At 12, Jesus wasn't acting his age; he was acting much older.
• Jesus said, "Isn't it obvious where I should be and what I should be doing?"
• One can almost hear in Jesus a typical teen complaint: "Why don't you trust me?"
• If Mary and Joseph, hand-picked by God, couldn't understand Jesus, we should not be discouraged at our own difficulties communicating with our children.

• Families do not have to be picture perfect to be used of God.
• Family life is in danger of being relegated to a low priority in our society.
• The church needs to pray for and support families, inside and outside the church.
• Families are not add-ons to other things in life; rather, they are foundational, growing us into what we become.

• God came down into a family. May he enter our families through Christ as well.