Lost and Found

This week I had to travel to Lincoln, Nebraska to make a presentation for a group of pastors. I don't always appreciate the trip to Lincoln (roughly 8 hours by car), but this time was different--I got to fly. Spending 55 minutes on a plane as opposed to 8 hours in a car is a no-brainer in my book.

So it was that on Tuesday morning I flew out to Lincoln. I spent the afternoon in my hotel room getting some work done on a wedding service and on a graduation talk. That evening I got to take some of my former students out to dinner and finally closed the evening by going to Starbucks with another former student. All in all, a day well-spent.

Wednesday morning I made my presentation, caught up with some friends, and then headed to the airport to come home in time to celebrate my son-in-law's birthday.

I got to the Lincoln airport and proceeded to check-in. I took out my PDA wallet which held my credit card and driver's license for photo ID purposes. I inserted the credit card in the appropriate slot, followed all the directions on the touch screen and in short order had my boarding pass and my luggage checked.

I still had about 45 minutes before my flight left, so I took the escalator up to a little spot to eat in the airport. There weren't a lot of choices, but it took me a couple of minutes to decide what I wanted. I reached down to take out my PDA wallet so I could pay for my lunch when my stomach suddenly seized up--my wallet wasn't in my carry-on bag. After a brief moment of panic, I realized I must have left it on the check-in counter.

I hurried to the escalator to head downstairs. Slowly (way too slowly in my anxious state!), the escalator made its way downward. As I passed a certain point, I could see the check-in counter from the escalator and I spied my wallet. I hurried off the escalator, and headed to grab my precious wallet and PDA. When I was about 50 feet away I spied a TSA worker who had also spotted my wallet. Just as she reached up to take it, I called out, "Ma'am!" She turned and said, "I was just wondering who this belonged to." She handed my wallet to me and I breathed a sigh of relief.

On reflection, I thought of the story of the lost coin that's found in Luke 15. Luke records three stories that are all somewhat different, yet have a similar theme. The first is about sheep who is lost, knows it, but can't do anything about it. The second is about a coin which has no idea it is lost and is dependent on someone to come find it. The third story is about a son who knows he's lost, can do something about it, and ultimately does.

My wallet didn't know it was lost and couldn't do anything about it. I had to go looking for it. I suspect Jesus told this story because there are a lot of us who are lost and don't even know it, and subsequently are dependent on someone else's help because we don't realize we're in need of help.

Often I suspicion we read this story and apply it to someone else. May I suggest that our very smugness in applying it to someone else demonstrates we're more like the lost coin than we care to admit. Many of us are smugly lost. It doesn't really make any difference how it happens. The end result is the same--we're lost, we don't even realize it, and so we're dependent on someone else to come and find us.

That's why I like these three stories that Jesus told. While the religious elite look down on "the lost," Jesus doesn't waste time, He goes out in search of the lost because they are so valuable to Him. And when He finds the lost, what does He do?

Notice Luke 15:9,10. "And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.' In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

I know how I was feeling about finding my wallet. Now just multiply that by a thousand times and you'll just be scratching the surface about how God feels about you! Am I ever thankful that I have a God who loves me enough to come looking for me when I'm lost.

So let's throw a party! Lost--and found!