When The Lost Has Been Found

I love the parable of the lost coin.  It is such a relevant Biblical example of my life all too often. In case you aren’t familiar with it, the parable come from the Gospel of Luke.

“Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and sweep the entire house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she will call in her friends and neighbors and say, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost coin.’  In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents.” (Luke 15:8-10 New Living Translation)

You see, I lose things all the time.  I often will put something somewhere and remember putting it somewhere else.  Or once in a while the kids or Jen will relocate the item from one place to another.  I’ve actually been known to wander around the house looking for my mobile phone while holding it to my ear in conversation!

According to the "Lost & Found" survey released by Pixie*, a location app for iPhones, Americans spend an average of 2.5 days a year looking for lost items.  2.5 DAYS!!!  That’s 1/2 of a work week a year that we spend looking for things we lose or misplace. Guess what the number one lost item is… the TV remote!  Keys, glasses and phones were the other top lost items.

I don’t know about you but I get extremely frustrated when I have to spend any significant amount of time looking for something that’s been lost.  Usually my first response is to ask the family, “Alright, where did you put my [whatever item I am looking for]?”  “It was right here when I left for work this morning!”

Most of the time I spend looking for items around the house involves looking for things I misplaced, not lost.  But every once in a while something falls out of my pocket or someone in the house actually did move it and it truly is lost.  At least to me.

On our family’s recent trip to Maine one of the stops we made was to visit my brother Peter and his wife, Laurie.  They live on a lake. 

Shortly after our arrival we changed into our swimsuits and headed to the water’s edge to enjoy some boating, fishing and swimming.  As the kids were swimming in the neck-high water Jack began to cry.  I immediately began asking what was wrong.  He wouldn’t respond but simply continued to cry.  After multiple attempts to determine what was making him so sad it dawned on me what the problem was.

Eight years ago Jack was born with a cleft lip and palate.  He has had two corrective surgeries and in preparation for the third which took place August 2nd the orthodontist needed to use what’s called a spacer to move Jack’s upper jaw into just the right position in preparation for surgery.  Following the removal of the spacer Jack received a retainer-like device to hold everything in place.  

As we swam in the water I asked him, “Did your retainer fall out?”  He slowly nodded his head, confirming my fear.  We were 6 days away from the surgery we had waited years for and all I thought was it was going to have to be postponed as his teeth would have moved too much.

We got the kids out of the water and my brother and I began to look for the device.  The retainer looked just like the invisible braces you see on TV and the only question that came to mind was, “How in the world are we going to find this thing?!” 

I began to pray, as did Jen.  Peter was in the water repeatedly diving down to investigate the bottom of the lake as I tried to look from above.  Thankfully the lake was extremely clear.  Soon after the search began I joined him in the water. After several minutes of alternate dives and trying to feel along the bottom with our feet, the clouds, thunder and lightning caused us to halt the rescue mission. 

To be honest I felt defeated.  The plan was to purchase a pair of goggles from a local store an resume the operation the next day as night was quickly falling.

The next morning around 7 Jen said, “Now would be the perfect time to look for the retainer as the lake is so calm.  We could see the still water from our bedroom window.  I went downstairs and made my way to the dock.  Once there I lay flat out on my belly and put my face an inch from the water, blocking the glare as best I could with my hand.  I could see the bottom of the lake pretty well, but all I saw were fresh water mussels along with some weeds and leaves.  

My focus shifted to the lake floor near the bottom of the ladder that attached to the dock.  I noticed what I figured was a shiny mussel shell, but it caught my attention enough to warrant further investigation.  I slowly got to my feet, trying not to shake the dock too much and retrieved an oar.  Returning to my prostrate position I began to poke at the shiny item, noticing that it had a curved edge.

Getting more hopeful by the moment I realized I needed to enter the water.  There was one barrier though.  I was in my shorts and a t-shirt and didn’t want to take my eyes off the item to go up to the house and change into my swim trunks.  So I did what any man all by himself with no one around for miles would do.

For the record I didn’t strip down completely before entering the lake.  Slowly descending into the rather refreshing water I placed my foot over the shiny object and maneuvered it to my hand.  It was the retainer.

I couldn’t believe it!  I got out of the water, gathered my items and made my way back to the house.  Jen and I were the only ones awake at the time.  Once inside I showed her my discovery and she cried.  Tears of joy are a wonderful thing, especially when God is involved.

I waited for Jack to come downstairs and when he did I showed him what I had found.  He was not nearly as excited as I hoped he would be because he didn’t like wearing it in the first place!  But that didn’t steal my joy.  Having already washed it thoroughly I placed it in his mouth and voila -  it didn’t fit!  His jaw had moved just enough so that the retainer no longer stayed connected to his teeth!

With some finagling I was able to reshape the hard molded plastic retainer just enough to make it stay.  Because we found the device we were able to enjoy the rest of our time in Maine and the surgery 5 days later was a success!

The question that this whole experience leads to is this:  What thing of significant value in your life has been lost?  I’m not speaking about a physical object.  For example, have you lost your connection to someone you love?  Or have you lost hope in your ability to overcome an addiction?  Maybe you have lost faith in God’s ability to help you get through whatever it is you are experiencing.

Friend I am writing this to you to testify that God is in the business of restoring that which is lost.  He cares about us enough to hear our cries for help.  Just like He heard our prayers that day on the dock in Maine He hears you.  

Maybe what’s lost is you.  Maybe you are the one who has wandered away from someone who loves you.  The parable in Luke 15 is all about the sinner returning to a loving Father and that same Father is waiting right now for you to fall into His arms.

If you decide to do that, He will respond with much more joy than we can imagine.

* Here is a link to the Pixie survey: