Imagine one day discovering that you were a lost, missing child.

Marx Barnes—now named Steve Carter—born in 1977, had no inkling he was a lost, missing child until January 2011, when he did a search on missingkids.com. He found himself staring at a composite image created to show what Marx would look like as an adult.

"I got chills," Carter said.

A DNA test ultimately confirmed his identity.

Marx went missing at 6-months-old on June 21, 1977, when his mother placed him in a stroller and went for a walk on one of the Hawaiian Islands. Through a strange series of events, Marx's mother was placed in a psychiatric hospital, while Marx was placed in protective care, ultimately becoming a ward of the state. Marx was placed in an orphanage only 30 miles from where he lived with his parents. As an adult, Carter "never had any strong desire to locate his family."

By contrast, his half sister had only one desire in life: to find out what happened to her brother. It was her efforts—convincing officials to reactivate the investigation—that led to the composite image Carter discovered online. An official from the Missing Child Center in Hawaii said, "If it wasn't for her, it would still be a cold case."

Possible Preaching Angle: We were all lost, missing children. Apart from Christ and his pursuit of us, our lives would still be a spiritual "cold case," a dead end. But through his birth, death, and resurrection—his whole life of pursuing sinners—he came to seek and save the lost.