There is joy in the presence of God's angels when even one sinner repents. Luke 15:10

           My wallet was lost and I was upset.  It wasn't the money in it, because it didn't have much.  It was the credit cards, drivers' license, passes, and other important cards I carried in it.  What a hassle to replace and temporarily do without.  I searched everywhere I thought it could possibly be within the house and in each place I had been in the previous 24 hours.  No luck.  I began the unpleasant process of replacing its contents. 

           A few days later, while rummaging in the back of the bedroom closet, I found it.  It was lodged in a shoe that was seldom worn.  It took a moment, but the scenario of its disappearance became clear.  I had failed to remove the wallet from a pair of slacks I had worn recently.  When they were hung up, the wallet dropped from the pants' pocket and settled perfectly into the shoe and became virtually invisible.  What a relief to find it.  The feeling bordered on elation.  The lost had been found.

            Jesus told two brief stories in Luke chapter 15 about lost things-a sheep and a coin.  In each case the owners searched diligently until they found that which they valued so greatly.  Both stories climax with a celebration because that which was lost had been found.

            The message is simple and clear.  God values those who are far from him infinitely more than I did my missing wallet.  He will do all he can to ensure that they are found.  And, not insignificantly, there is elation in God's heart and celebration in heaven when those who are lost are found.

            We all have been lost and far from God.  We have all felt the grace of God searching for us in an effort to bring us back home to him.  And there is nothing like the experience of being recovered from the lostness of sin and self by the loving hands of God.  Oh how he and all of heaven rejoices when we are reclaimed by the One who values us more than we could ever know.

             For all who know God's finding grace through the love and sacrifice of Jesus, revel in your value to God and his kingdom.  Know the depth of God's joy that you belong to him.

            For those running from God, resisting God or indifferent to him, he is passionately seeking you.  If you look, you can see his loving fingerprints as he touches your life and the world around you.  But he will not drag you to himself.  You must choose to yield to his loving invitation.

             So, come home today.  Let the party begin.