Casandra Martin

“Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does
not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it?
And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors,
saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ Just so,
I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
– Luke 15:8-10

I lived this parable today. Well, it wasn’t a coin. It was my son’s wallet. He lost it. We got home from camp, and he realized that he didn’t have his wallet. He remembered putting it in the pocket of his suitcase by his bunk. Unpacking produced piles of laundry, a suspicious smelling towel, a wet swimsuit scrunched under an unused bottle of sunscreen, but no wallet.

He texted his friends, checked with the other campers, and searched through his bags. We waited and worried and prayed. Finally, there was only one thing left to do. Go in search of his wallet. His dad and I got in the car, preparing to drive all the way back out to camp to look for it. We called the camp caretaker, making arrangements to visit the camp and then set out. After a nice, long drive, we pulled into camp and headed straight for the boys’ cabins.

Opening the cabin door, we searched under beds, peered in corners, pulled bunks away from the wall, and examined all the places a wallet might hide. Where could it be? We hadn’t come all this way to give up without searching in every possible nook and cranny. Finally, we lifted up the mattressin the bunk where he had slept, and there it was. Relief, joy, and thanksgiving flooded our faces. And it was only a wallet.

This moment by the bunk bed shed light on the heart of God. We were willing to search diligently to find a lost wallet. God went to much greater lengths to search for me.

My Jesus Resolution today is to remember what it is like to be lost and found. If finding a wallet can produce that much joy, imagine how God’s heart explodes when one of His lost children comes home, when we choose His will over our own way, or when we deliberately decide to look like Jesus rather than imitating the world. I want to bring a smile to God’s face today. Iam going to live found.