A Safe Place

Tuesday, August 9, 2022

Do you have a safe place that is so safe, it’s even safe from you? In our home, we call it the Bermuda Triangle!

When Tim and I were living in Hawaii, we were given very professional name badges that pin on your clothes by way of magnets. They were a gold metal with a burgundy inscription: Child Evangelism Fellowship and our names. Simple but elegant. We were excited. No more using those plastic/paper jobs that are cheap and look it! We wore our new name badges with pride… once!

Yes, after wearing them for a teacher training class, I put them in a safe place. They were never to be seen again… literally! I thought I had put them with all our teaching materials but the next time we went to teach, they were missing! I looked everywhere, without success. Would you believe, when we downsized, packed up everything and moved to the mainland, they never showed up. An unsolved mystery.

Tim will often ask me if I know the whereabouts for something and I can usually tell him, even his misplaced items. If I misplace something, no such luck.

This past week I searched two days through all my belongings for something I needed right away. Not wanting to have this important item just lying around, or in my wallet, I put it in a safe place, easily accessible but still hidden away. In all the usual places it was not to be found. Please tell me I am not the only one who this has happened to. “Please Lord, if You think I need to find this item right now, please help me to find this. I am having no luck on my own!”

Tim even helped me as I started looking in other places. I started going through each of my cupboards, taking everything out. Piece by piece I sorted through everything. Again, the search was in vain. Not another Bermuda Triangle, please! Should I just give up for now? Perhaps God had His reasons for me not finding the item right now. Ok, I could live with that. “But Lord, if You do want me to have it right now, please bring to mind where I should search. I am stumped.”

After having my morning devotions and getting some of my work done on the third day, the thought came to me where I hadn’t really searched. One set of drawers where I knew it couldn’t possibly be, I hadn’t bothered with. The pull to waste no more time and look was urgent. The first drawer was just as I had suspected and I moved to the next, taking everything out. Would you believe, I hit the jackpot! Not only was the lost item found, but with it was a bunch of very needed cash! The Lord is so good!

I am reminded of the parable of the lost coin in Luke 15:8, “…what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?” The woman had lost something of great value to her. Not only was the coin worth a lot of money, but it was a gift from her husband, a dowry, worn has a headdress. Thus, it was very important she find the lost coin. From the description, it looks like she was very diligent in her search. She lit a lamp to better see and searched carefully, even sweeping the entire place, until she found her coin. She didn’t just spend a few minutes searching and then give up.

Her diligence paid off. Luke 15:9 exclaims, “And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!’” Her elation and relief in finding her lost item I can totally relate to. I was so very grateful I had found what I was looking for that I wanted to go out and celebrate. It was such a relief to have back something of importance that I thought I had lost. “Thank you, Father, for Your mercy and grace!”

Jesus narrative of the story is not finished. Luke 15:10 goes on to say, “Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” More important than any wealth lost or something of sentimental value, is a sinner, a person created and deemed precious by God who is living his own life bound for a Christ less eternity. 2 Peter 3:9 says He is “longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should some to repentance.”

This past week we had VBS at our church. The topic was being made in the image of God and all that entails, furthermore He created us special and different than the animals (Genesis 1-2). God knew all about us and planned our lives before the foundation of the world (Psalm 139). Sin came into the world when man chose to believe the serpent and not trust God (Genesis 3) That’s why Jesus, God the Son, had to come and pay the penalty for our sins by dying on the cross for us (4 Gospels).

During the course of the week, five of the children realized they were sinners who needed the Savior. They chose to put their trust in the Lord to forgive their sins, and change their lives. We rejoiced. Zephaniah 3:17 says, “The Lord your God in your midst, the Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.” Another version words it, “He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy”! Picture it, God shouted over you when you turned your life over to Him. That’s the love of an amazing God!

Blessings, Mari