#179 He Has Been Found

The Bible provides us three clear lost and found stories in Luke 15. A shepherd loses a sheep. He searches for it, finds it, and then calls everyone together to celebrate. A woman has ten gold coins. She loses one, searches for it, finds it, and then gathers her friends to celebrate. Finally, the story of the prodigal son; a son leaves home, squanders his inheritance, reaches the lowest of lows, and then shamefully returns home. He is met by a father who embraces him, and throws a party at his return.

The Bible tells us that in the same way as these three rejoiced, heaven rejoices when one sinner repents and comes to Christ.

When I consider these three stories, I do what I always do. I take their stories further. I consider the future of these characters. Did the woman who lost her coin continue to express her joy over finding it? Did the shepherd who lost his sheep now value that sheep even more? Did the father’s relationship with his son blossom to greater depths now that he had returned?

I wonder at the past of their stories, too. Had the woman who lost her coin been careless? Had the shepherd not valued the one sheep because he had 99 others? Had the father neglected his son, leading his son to want to explore what the world had to offer him?

I’ve lived my own similar lost and found story. When I reached the ‘found’ part of the story I felt like these characters. I wanted to shout my joy from the mountaintops. I wanted to send out notifications to the world that what had been lost was now found. Something that had been broken was now restored. It was all I could think about. For weeks, I would go to sleep giddy with joy, and awake thinking it had all been a dream.

But I also know that the splendor of such an event has the tendency to wear away the older the joy becomes. The unbelievable that at one time was worth celebrating, soon becomes yesterday’s news.

What of these characters? How did their stories end? I know in my own life I no longer find myself continually giddy with joy. I don’t wake up wanting to shout my lost and found story from the mountaintops.

Although we cannot live only on past joy, there are pieces of our pasts that we must bring with us into every day lest we forget and once again lose what once caused us great joy over being found.


At Easter, you cannot avoid the image of Jesus on the cross. I find that it follows me everywhere I go during the months of March and April. When I consider the cross, and what Jesus did for me it shakes my entire being.

I was lost.

He found me!

The greatness of finding something that was lost is nothing compared to being the one that is found.

It is easy to be reminded of what Jesus did for me when it is right there in my face. I have a good cry during passion plays, my chest puffs with gratefulness when I read scripture, and my throat chokes up when I hear Amazing Grace. But then the seasons change, my lost and found story is filed away under ‘Feel Good Stories’ not to be read again until next year.

This Easter, do what you must to cling to what Jesus has done for you. Don’t allow your lost and found story to become a part of the past. Make it an ever present part of your story as it is being written…a story so great that even shouting from the mountaintops won’t do.

#93 He Likes to Take Me Shopping

One day, I will get into the habit of writing things I do right after they happen, or as they are happening.

But since I am still a bit of a procrastinator, and because it is only a week after Easter, I thought I'd give you the two-minute version of the last two weeks of my life.

My family's church holds a massive passion play every year for Easter.  Last year, my little-big brother Joel was asked to play Peter, this year he was asked to play Jesus.

Whoa!

Right?

So I had to endure the sisterly torment of watching this happen to him:

But then the overwhelming pride of seeing this:

The production lasted three weeks.  While Joel was up there floating in the clouds, my mother helped sell souvenirs, Jonathan was a permanent member of the audience, and my father parked cars.

I think dad is really rocking that hat, don't you?

Because I am naturally a loving and helpful daughter, I helped him with parking the productions.

Alright, I have to rat myself out.  I helped park most productions.

I'm a fair weather parker.  I do not park when it rains or snows.

Whew, confession is such a reliving thing.

My last day of parking I decided to spice things up and add a few dance steps to my ushering the cars into their spots.  This lead to my receiving a reward from the parking captain, Charlie, for being the most graceful parker, ever.

I'm so proud, I just don't know what to do with myself.  

Parking with the guys led me to do a lot of baking.  They are so appreciative of yummy treats that it is hard not to want to make something for them every single time I see them.  This led to my recent Orange Strainer post: Cadbury Cookie Bars

The morning after Easter, hubby and I woke up at 5:30 am to go on a three day trip, and I cried.

5:30 is an ungodly time of day.  No one should ever have to endure it.

Especially me.

Along the way we stopped for some coffee from McDonalds.  We wondered about this reserved parking sign until we were sent over to that very spot to wait as our coffees were made.

I was tempted at this point in our 7 hour trip to turn right to go to Buffalo for some delicious sponge candy and dessert from The Chocolate Martini Bar.  Despite my temptations, we turned left for our destination of Jamestown, NY.

And found our way to The Lucy Desi Center for Comedy.

As an avid fan of I Love Lucy, this was a must do trip.  Since we were headed five hours into NY for a totally unrelated reason, we added this detour.

The museum was filled with awesome memorabilia of Lucy and Desi Arnaz.

But my favorite part was the Desilu Studios which held everything I Love Lucy related, like this recreated set of the Ricardo's kitchen.  I waited, half expecting Ethel or Fred Mertz to poke their head in from the back porch door.

This fan was from the episode "Redecorating the Mertzes' Apartment".  A minuscule piece to many, it is the fan that blew feathers from furniture Lucy was trying to upholster into the recently painted, wet walls.

There were five murals in Jamestown devoted to Lucille Ball.

This one was my favorite.  It is on an abandoned building which I'm trying to convince hubby to purchase for me.

I'm feeling lucky.

Despite the fact that I was fully prepared to bunk up in the abandoned building for the night, we continued our trip.

It was roughly ten degrees cooler and we were followed by snowflakes the entire time.  We woke up to this little dusting outside of our hotel.

We spent our second day of the trip touring Pathfinder Village, a community for individuals with Down syndrome.  One of my long term goals in life is to create a place similar to this (boy was I disappointed when I realized my idea wasn't completely original) but with a slightly different mission and purpose.

Pathfinder Village was incredible, and I packed my brain with tons of ideas and inspiration.

The village was surrounded by farms, farms, and farms.  We were a solid half hour from any kind of civilization (translation: there were no shopping malls near by), the closest thing being a local pizza parlor and a Chobani factory.

It was a peaceful drive, despite the fact that we were nearing empty on our gas tank and hoping to find a real highway with a rest area to fill up at.

Our last day of this mini vacation was spent shopping at the Woodbury Common Premium Outlets.  Everyday when I wake up in the morning, I thank God that I married a man who likes to shop.

It makes my life so much easier.

And that was the last few weeks of my life.

Alright, that may have been the five-minute version instead of the two-minute, but I did my best.  And just think, this was only my Easter break...can you imagine all the wonderful things I'll have to write about when summer comes?