I give you thanks especially because I was and am so dastardly. Were I not, your almighty strength might never have come to me. Your mercy might never have visited me.

Had I not been a wicked lamb, your Son, my Lord, my Shepherd, would not have hunted for me.

I would never have known the joy of being carried in his arms the long, long way back home.

I would not have held my foolish head against his breast.

I would not have heard the heartbeat of his infinite compassion.

Had I not been so wretched and ragged a sinner, I might never have known the tenderness and the love and the thoughtfulness and the care and the holiness of my Father.