Lord willing, I am in Singapore before heading to Can Tho, Vietnam in 24 hours. For the next thirty days, my writing platform will be manned (or womaned) by friends and relatives. Tonight's entry is from my very good friend, Ken Ellis, of Wichita, Kansas.
It happened on a Thursday afternoon, October the 26th, of last year. I had just completed my last errand for the day. I had bought ink for our printer at Office Depot. Instead of putting my wallet into my back pocket as I always do, I placed it into my jacket pocket.
When I arrived home and reached for my wallet, I realized that it must have fallen out somewhere between Office Depot and my car. I called Office Depot and asked if a wallet had been turned in and was told "No." But, I remained cool, calm and collected, right? No!! I freaked out. I could already imagine strangers buying large screen TV's, and washers and dryers at Best Buy using my credit cards.
My next dilemma was determining what was in my wallet at the time of loss.. I finally decided that I had:
• three $1 bills
• a debit card
• (2) credit cards
• a Kohl's charge card
• my driver's license, of course,
• a medical prescription card and,
• my Medicare card which showed my Social Security Number.
I spent the rest of the afternoon cancelling all of those cards and applying for new ones which would take 7 - 10 days to arrive.
I was fortunate to get a new Driver's License the next day and drove back to Office Depot to see if my wallet had been turned in. It hadn't, but the cashier said that she had seen a lady pick up something from the parking lot on the same Thursday afternoon that I was there. I knew she had found my wallet. There was a contact number in my wallet, but no one called that Thursday, Friday, Sat., or Sunday.
The following Monday afternoon I went to the mailbox to retrieve the day's mail. Can you guess what else was in the mailbox? Yep. Junk mail. But on top of that pile of junk mail sat My Wallet!!! What had been lost, was now found. A quick check showed that nothing was missing. I really regret
not knowing who that honest person was that drove to my house and returned my wallet with all of its contents so that I could thank them.
If you're a parent and you've ever been shopping in a dept. store with a small child, and you turn around and your child is nowhere in sight, you immediately begin a search. And when you find your child, you are so relieved and thankful that they're safe. There's nothing much worse than losing something valuable or someone you love.
You may be familiar with the three parables recorded in Luke Chapter 15 wherein something was lost as told in the parables of the lost sheep, lost coin and the lost son who left home and squandered his inheritance.
I believe they are presented in this order for a specific reason.
1. The shepherd had 100 sheep. If he lost one, he lost 1% of his flock.
2. The woman had 10 coins. If she lost one, she lost 10% of her wealth.
3. The man had two sons. If he lost one, it could be said that he lost 50%
of his family. But in reality, he would have lost 100% of that son's life.
Fortunately, the sheep, the coin and the son were found. It was a time of rejoicing for all three for all that was lost was found.
In conclusion, here's the important question: Do we consider ourselves to be in "the lost column" or "the found column" of God's family?
God doesn't want any of His children to be lost. We know this from reading 2 Pet. 3, the latter part of verse 9: "He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." It's an important decision that each one of us has to make for our eternal salvation depends on it.
Applicable Quote of the Day:
I do not know if there is a more dreadful word in the English language than that word "lost." Charles Spurgeon
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