CP 260 Pure gold, and 18 small diamonds...

CP 260 Pure gold, with 18 small diamonds…

The retread series NO 3

On Sunday morning we were in Jindabyne with our daughter and her boys at the local playground. It’s at the edge of a great open-space luscious lawn, the size of a football field, which stretches down to the lake. Near the table where we based ourselves there was a woman who was clearly searching for something near the table. Turned out that on Saturday she had been running around, chasing a soccer ball with her little boy. When they finished she noticed that she had lost one of her earings.

That earing was obviously important to her. She had twice returned on Saturday afternoon to look for it without luck. Sunday morning she was there again, searching, searching, searching… She’d even tried to find a metal detector she might borrow. I asked where she thought she had lost it and she indicated the area around the table. ‘What does it look like?’  She said it was gold, a bit over a centimetre round and had 18 tiny diamonds on it. I thought to myself, ‘Maybe I can help here.’ The eyes went down and I began to criss-cross the area without a result. At one point I looked at her and she was 30-40 metres away so I began to think, ‘Fat chance, this is like looking for a needle in a haystack.’

The search area widened as the boys played on. After a half hour or so it was time to go home. I had to accept, and it was sad to accept, that there was to be no ‘lucky strike,’ no fairy-tale ending. Wouldn’t you know, as we headed to the car I looked down and saw a faint flash of something in the grass, and yes, it was the earing, and yes it was beautiful.

Milady was a little way off so we called to her. Overjoyed. Thank you, thank you. I told her I had a reputation! Still the thank yous kept coming, then a hug, then tears, more thank yous and more tears. Her relief was there for all to see. As we moved to the car she was weeping the tears of release. Me? ‘My name’s Fred, and I’m here to help!’ Made my morning.

Afterwards I couldn’t help but think of the story Jesus told about the woman who had ten silver coins, and who had lost one. Turned the house upside down until she found it. When she did find it she was so overjoyed she threw a party. It follows another story where Jesus describes a man losing just one of his flock of 100 sheep, who risked the 99 to find that one. He too chucked a party.

Allow me to make 2 points. First, God the Father also had to deal with the loss of what was most precious to him, Adam and Eve and all their children. The whole story of Scripture is about his seeking the lost, about doing whatever it takes to effect that restoration, even if it means the Son not just coming to us, and living the life of holy obedience and freedom in our place. More than that, he goes, with ‘exocet-like’ precision, to a crucifixion and then a tomb. It was never going into the ‘too hard’ or ‘will take too long’ box. ‘Whatever it takes’ is the motto of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Secondly, ponder the joy. I don’t know the exact ‘importance’ of that earing for the woman. I can tell you that you can measure how important it was by the release from her worst fears and the outpouring of her relief and joy. Imagine the joy of our loving God and his angels when you came home.

One final thought. Being participants in that ‘bringing the lost home’ work of God, well that’s our call. There is a challenge here for all of us to let go of our prejudices, criticism and judging, and to live our belief that redemption is the goal, and is possible, even for the worst of sinners amongst us.

Nuff said. Be blessed and be a blessing this week. Jesus is Lord.

Fred