A Ring in a Leaf Pile

If you know me at all, you know that I have a tendency to lose things. It is a daily battle to keep up with my keys, my wallet, and my phone. Thank goodness I don't wear glasses or those would be added to my list of missing things. Saturday, my ability to lose things seemed to rear its ugly head in a pretty significant way. That afternoon, I spent a few hours cleaning up and bagging leaves at a home in our area. After I bagged what seemed to be an endless supply of leaves - in fact there were 18 large garden bags full, so I headed off to the landfill to dump them. If you have ever been to the Campbell County landfill, you know that in order to drop off bags of leaves, a person has to break open the bagged leaves and dump them out. After breaking open the sixteenth bag, and pouring them out, I felt the plastic string on the trash bag, pull my wedding ring off as I broke it open. Sure enough as I looked down, my wedding ring was gone! Imagine a leaf pile about 4 feet deep and 6 feet wide from side to side and my small wedding ring was somewhere in the midst. I starting looking on the ground for about 20 minutes and mean I searched earnestly. I humbled myself and called Amy and she quickly came over with a few others to help me look. By the time she arrived and joined the search, I had been looking for at least 30 minutes. She hadn't been there two minutes, when she said "honey I found it". I couldn't believe it - my tiny ring was at the edge of the pile and within minutes, my wife had found it. The coolest part is that I don't give any of the credit for this to anyone, but the Lord. You see I had been praying, Amy had been praying, and she had enlisted others to pray as well. God knew where that ring was all the time.

The story of my ring reminds me of the parables that Jesus told in Luke 15. One in particular was the parable of the lost coin. Luke 15:8 -10 says "Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn't she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.' In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." The story reminds us that if we can rejoice about finding a coin, that we should be that much more excited to see a sinner come to Christ. I can tell you that I was excited about finding my ring, and this verse reminds me that souls are so much more important than any material possession can be. I was also reminded by the passion with which I prayed for my ring to be found, should be nothing compared to how hard I search for and pray for the lost people in our area.

On Sunday Dr. Wheeler challenged all of us to take a prayer card, write down the names of three lost people, and begin to pray for them. I wonder how many of us have taken this challenge? There is nothing magical about a card, but there is nothing as powerful as prayer. If you haven't done so yet, write down the names of three people you know who don't know the Lord. Begin praying for those people, and pray for them every day. Pray that God gives you the opportunity to share the truth of the Gospel with them or that others will share His Word with them. Imagine the rejoicing in heaven if everyone of us took this challenge seriously and hundreds if not thousands of people came to Christ through this challenge. God wants to do something special at Hyland Heights, and I know I for one am excited to be a part of it. So today, join the challenge and pray for your lost friends, family, and neighbors.

Have a great week!

Mike