But Nemo knew better. He knew how fish were supposed to live. He knew the freedom of the sea. He would never again taste it. He knew he would never see his father again. He would die inside this glassy tomb. And he knew he had no one to blame but himself.

What he didn’t know was that his father was risking everything on an incredible journey to rescue his wayward son. He’d already fought and defeated three sharks, he’d navigated a dangerous jellyfish forest, and he was currently swimming with the turtles in the East Australian Current, holding to the desperate hope of finding his son in Sydney.

Word of the father’s search and rescue operation electrified the community of sea creatures. The story of his quest passed on ahead of him, from turtle to fish, to lobster, to swordfish, to dolphins, to birds, until finally it reached Nemo himself.

The news was unbelievable to Nemo. His dad, ever cautious, would never battle sharks and sea creatures. It couldn’t be true, could it? Would his dad really do that to rescue him?

But of course it was true. In short order Nemo was freed from his prison, and father and son were joyfully reunited. If you want to understand the Christian faith, you can read the story of the lost sheep in the New Testament (the Gospel of Luke, chapter 15). Or you can watch “Finding Nemo,” the excellent animated feature by Disney. Better than any film in recent memory, it captures the essence of the Christian story.

Like Nemo, we are trapped in an alien world of trivia and superstition. It’s not our natural habitat–we know it in our gut. How we long to trade the shallowness of our trivial pursuits for the wide open spaces of love and beauty, freedom and joy. We want to find our true home.

But it’s hopeless. We are stuck. We either give up our dreams and join the insanity, or hold tight to it and live in depression and defeat. There is no way out.

Until one day we hear the story of a Father who, through his Son, embarked on an incredible journey to rescue us and bring us back to Him. Facing every imaginable danger, He will not rest until He finds us.

It’s an incredible, fantastic, adventurous and beautiful story of love and loss, betrayal and redemption. Our Father has come to rescue us.

Maybe like Nemo you find it hard to believe. If so, listen to your heart. Do you feel in your gut that something is wrong with the inanities of our world? Do you have a longing for love and beauty, for freedom and adventure?

If so, keep on listening to the story. Before long you’ll be saying along with Nemo and scores of other rescued fish, “It’s my Dad! He took on a shark!”

“For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,” (Colossians 1:13).