THE LOST IS FOUND

THE LOST IS FOUND
        We are having having most of our house interior painted this week, so everything is a mess. It almost looks like we're moving. So many things are where they shouldn't be, awaiting tubs and boxes for temporary storage. Our biggest irritation is the dust of fifteen years that is getting into our noses, making for some huge and comical sneezes. No matter how careful one is to keep it clean, a house accumulates dust invisibly until a project like this.   
        But something joyful happened. We found the key to our Arizona golf cart! It was right here on our Colorado key rack, right under our noses because we weren't looking for it here. I spent many hours last winter looking for that key in Arizona, but it wasn't going to be found in Arizona. For some reason I'd brought it up here, but thought it was down there. So the "lost" was not really lost. We were looking in the wrong place.
        We were pleased to find it because that company is no longer in business and the cart shop wasn't even sure they could order a new key system that could replace it. But it doesn't matter now, because the lost key is found. That has a biblical ring to it, doesn't it?
        The woman in Jesus' story in Luke 15 swept her house until she found the lost coin. She needed that coin and when it was found, told her neighbors to come over and be happy with her at her discovery. "Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost." (Luke 15:9)
        Forty-six years ago this summer I helped a family find their lost seventeen year-old son. He was angry at his parents and the world, and so ran off from his Minot, ND, home. After a few months being lost, he called his parents from Boston and wanted to be found again. They were so pleased that they invited me to meet him at the train station, and I got a Christmas card and a thank you from them several years afterwards.
        I can't remember his name now, but I do recall the look of joy on his father's face when he told me his beloved son was coming home. It must have been like the look on the woman's face when the lost coin was found. It is a true blessing of life to find something that has been lost.
        If you are ever lost, God will try to find you. He will because He loves and treasures you and wants you to be with Him always. That is His wish and His promise. God finds His lost children and wants them to come and be with Him.
        Our house is too messy for you to come over right now to celebrate, but we still want to share our happiness at finding something lost.

What have you found lately that is a blessing to you?

Rev. Bob Tasler
www.bobtasler.com