THE LOST COIN -- MORE OR LESS

In Luke 15, Jesus tells the story of the lost sheep and the lost coin and how the "finder" rejoices. WELL, I don't have any sheep and my coins aren't valuable enough to cause me to panic at first and rejoice later. We live in a different world today, in general, for that response.

Today I panicked over a totally different loss. My driver's license. I had it in my pants pocket this morning, thought I moved it to my purse later, and, assuming that was correct, when I was leaving to pick up the g-kids from school, tried to pull it out to pop it back into my pocket. I couldn't find my license. I freaked. I tore the purse apart, I dug through my jacket and pants pockets, hoping it had been stuck in a fold. I didn't find it, but had to leave right away or I wouldn't be at school on time. Later I looked under car seats thinking it might have fallen out of my pants pocket earlier in the day. Nothing. When I got home I dug through the sofa and chair in the living room and my chair in the office. Nothing. I called the one place I had been that day, a restaurant, in case it had been found there. NOTHING!!

So, I knew that tomorrow I would have to go to the DMV to get a new one -- not pleasant, partly because it would hit the budget a bit, and with Dave out of his job for a year and a half, extra budget hits really hit me in the stomach.

This evening I needed to clean the living room. On today's "to do" list. Was "swiffering" -- no expectation whatsoever re: the license. Started to swipe under a cabinet and ran into something and when I pulled the duster out, the license came with it. I jumped up and down, hollering "Thank you, Jesus. Thank you. Thank you." And the frustration? I couldn't run outside and find neighbors to rejoice with me. It was dark, it's cold, most of them are "indoorsy", especially this time of year. But this scripture ran through my head and I decided that the best ones I could share this with are ones who would rejoice with me -- some neighbors might, but the majority of them would probably just roll their eyes at me, "that crazy, over-reacting intense woman."

Isn't it rather nice to discover, one more time, that the stories Jesus told can adjust themselves to our cultures and have the same dramatic results?

So, friends, "Rejoice with me, for I have found the 'silver coin' that I had lost."