September 26, 2023 - The Ring

       With all that has happened in the last week or so, I have failed to share a real-life illustration.
       On the second Sunday that Matt Rose preached, he shared the second of three parables about something that was lost from Luke 15.  It is the parable of the woman who lost a coin and then diligently searched her house for the lost coin. 
Jesus doesn’t tell us why this coin was so dear to the woman.  Some scholars believe that it was part of a headdress that she may have received when she was married.
       Last week Teresa and I traveled to Butler, PA, to attend the visitation and funeral for Les Karenbauer’s mother. 
       On Tuesday morning before the funeral I was sitting at a small desk in the hotel room working on my laptop.  It was then that I realized that my wedding ring was not on my finger.
       The only times that I have not had that ring on my finger I could count on one hand.  A couple of times when I was having surgery and maybe a time or two when we were at the lake and I took it off when we were swimming.
       Like the woman in Jesus’ parable we diligently searched the room.  We took the sheets off the bed, took the couch apart, looked in the shower, and took everything out of our suitcase.  But we were not as fortunate as the woman in Jesus’ story. 
       We checked out of the hotel and headed to our car to go to the funeral.  As I opened the back hatch on the Edge I noticed something on the ground behind our car.
       It was my wedding ring.  I reached down and picked it up and placed it back on my finger where it has been the last 42 years.  Teresa and I rejoiced like the woman in the parable. 
       If we are going to make it a real-life parable that is close to the story that Jesus told, then this blog is calling others to rejoice with us.
       Over the last couple of years I have lost some weight and my ring doesn’t fit as snugly as it once did.  All we can figure is that when I unloaded the suitcases the night before, I caught the ring on something, but I didn’t realize the ring was missing from my finger.
       The ring dropped straight down and patiently waited until the next morning, just like a good husband!  Had it hit on its side and rolled a bit, we would never have found it.  It wasn’t like we were even looking for it in the parking garage.
       Life doesn’t hinge on finding a lost wedding ring.  I can’t say whether God had a thing to do with us finding it.  The childlike part of my faith sure wouldn’t say that He didn’t.
       What I do know is that like the woman in the parable we rejoiced when something we had lost that was dear to us was found. 
       The parable is an illustration of how God responds when one of His children is lost and is found.
       What a great God we serve.