A few weeks ago, we heard Joe Barnett talk about the Parable of the Prodigal Son. He said it’s more than just a Bible story. He called it the greatest short story ever told. And he showed us why.

Joe’s sermon showed how this story isn’t just moving in theory. It actually changed a life.

Dostoevsky was sent to a Siberian prison camp. On the way, someone gave him a small New Testament. In that hard place, surrounded by filth and hunger, he read the story of the prodigal. He saw himself in the far country, in the pigpen. But even more, he found the heart of the Father—a love that runs toward us when we turn back.

Joe walked us through the story, step by step:

from sick of home,

to homesick,

to finally, home.

The turning point isn’t some big success or a huge change. It’s just five quiet words: “He came to his senses.” That’s the moment everything shifts. Not excuses. Not deals. Just a choice to go home.

The sermon ended where the story always does: with hope. No matter how far you’ve gone, how long you’ve been away, or how sure you are that it’s too late—

home is still open.

The Father still runs.

And the welcome is greater than the shame.

Most of us have read, or at least heard the story Jesus told in Luke 15:11–32. As we move from Christmas into a new year, that lesson has stayed with me.

It’s never too late to start fresh.

The New Year gives us a natural line in the sand. We refresh habits, set goals (or resolutions), and try again. Often, those attempts turn into false starts—and that’s okay, as long as we try again.

And maybe the best time to try again isn’t January 1 at all.

Maybe it’s the moment we come to our senses.

For some, that means coming home to God.

For others, it means coming home to a relationship, a calling, a discipline, or a version of themselves they’ve neglected.

Either way, the door is still open. And the welcome is waiting.