This past weekend the Bible reading schedule (which can be found at the tab above) found us reading three parables in Luke chapter 15: the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son. Jesus told these three parables as a means of getting across one message about rejoicing when the valuable lost is found. I wish to tell you three parables (actually, real stories) about something or someone lost.
Parable 1
See the picture of the bank envelope above? It once held cash that we received from our bank. Specifically, it held several $20 bills that The Bear needed to pay for his expenses while traveling to a distant tournament with his basketball team over Christmas break. I handed him the envelope on the way to meet his ride. We made one stop along the way at a sandwich shop to buy lunch.
Thirty minutes later we met his team at the designated meeting place. When the Bear got out of the car he decided to look through his bags one last time to make certain that he had everything he needed. He didn't. The money envelope was gone!
Need I describe the panic in those moments? Probably not. We unpacked everything. We almost turned the car upside down during the search, but it had disappeared.
His coach was anxious to get on the road but The Bear couldn't leave without money so we made arrangements to meet them a few minutes after going to a distant bank branch for more money. A very distraught and embarrassed Bear then left on the trip with his team while Pastor Dad and I made the journey home.
We decided to call the sandwich shop to ask if they had found the envelope in the store. Funny thing, though. I couldn't find the receipt! Evidently it had been tossed out with the sandwich remnants during the frantic search through luggage and car.
As foolish as it sounds, we drove back to the sandwich shop anyway. By this time over 90 minutes had passed since we had been there with The Bear. As we drove into the parking lot my eye caught sight of the envelope lying in the parking lot right in front of the restaurant door. Anyone that had gone into that sandwich shop or the barber shop next door had walked past it without bothering to pick it up. Needless to say, we were overjoyed at finding our lost money!
Parable 2
The first Sunday in March one of the ladies from our church had a flat tire in the afternoon on a busy viaduct with very little emergency pull off shoulder. She was concerned about her safety as she sat there barely off the road while the traffic rushed past at moderately high speed. That night she told me about her scary adventure.
We were in the nursery together the following Wednesday night. She told me that the day after the tire blowout she realized that she had lost her wedding ring. It had not been found even though she had searched her car, clothing, and personal belongings. She was understandably upset. There wasn't much I could do except to ask a few questions to help jog her memory of the events of that day. She remembered the last time she could verify having it on her finger but from that point forward her memory was not clear.
I began praying that Wednesday evening that she would find her ring. I asked her this past Sunday if she had found it. Her dejected "No" made me sad, both because she hadn't found it and because I had reminded her of the empty space on her finger. I told her I wouldn't ask again but that if she found it I would like to know. Yesterday I received the phone call from one very excited lady telling me that she had unexpectedly come across her ring in the bottom of a bag! I was happy but she was elated!
Parable 3
At the beginning of the year those of us who asked for them received index cards containing the names of teenagers that have attended our evangelistic outreach at least once this year. I don't know all of these young people because I work in a separate area of the building each Wednesday when these services are held, but I am acquainted with a few of the teens whose names are on my card. It is a little harder to pray for those that I don't know because their spiritual needs are unknown to me but the fact that the Lord knows their circumstances is enough.
A few weeks ago we had a workers' meeting which I attended because I am a van captain. This meeting concerned teens that were disruptive and would no longer be allowed to attend due to their behavior, some of which crossed the line into criminal. That's no exaggeration. I was saddened to see that the name of one of the boys on my prayer list is also on the expelled list. I was even more saddened to hear that he is one of the ringleaders.
So what does this third story have to do with the parables that Jesus told? Well, these days I'm feeling a tiny bit like the man who stood watching the road for a wayward boy who needed to repent. As happy as I am to have found that lost money envelope and to have a friend find her lost wedding ring these pale to insignificance to this lost young man that needs to be found so I'm praying. . . and I'm waiting on the Lord. He's the only one who can make valuable lost souls be found.
