Tuesday, 3/31, Luke 15:1-32

Have you ever lost something important to you? Do you remember how you felt when you discovered it was missing? Do you remember how you felt when you found it?

When I was young (just a few years ago...) I received a lovely ring as a gift. After spending an afternoon baking, after my bread was done and the kitchen cleaned up, I discovered that my ring was missing. I was devastated, heartbroken and panic-stricken. I turned my kitchen upside down, inside out and every which way. I sifted through the flour canister, the sugar bag and the pantry. Then I scoured the floor, stuck my hand down into the sink drain and looked through the garbage pail. Then it occurred to me that it might be baked right into the bread, so I carefully sliced all the loaves to see if the ring would turn up. When everything failed, I did it all over again! Finally I just sat down in the middle of the floor and cried.

The three parables in chapter 15 of Luke's gospel are all about that which is lost and that which is found. God feels it deeply (devastated and heart-broken?) when one of us is 'missing' from Him. Actually, God probably grieves more, because when we are 'missing' it's a matter of eternal life or eternal death.

Where are you? Is God looking for you? Remember that if you feel far from God, it is you, not Him, who is lost. He is waiting. And He will celebrate and be glad (verse 32.)

(I did eventually find the ring. It had slipped into the spine of my Pillsbury Cookbook 3-ring binder...and I did a little happy dance in exactly the spot I had cried upon.)

peace,
Pastor Judi Hunt