Lost is Found

By Pastor Mark McAdow
So much I could write about today with the Olympics, presidential election process, Israel and Iran situation, but the main thing that comes to my mind today is answered prayer. Has the Lord answered prayers in your life this week? I hope so. He has for me.

Robin and I celebrated our 40th anniversary (which was June 16th) with a vacation to Alaska via a Holland America cruise. We prepared for our trip by reading about others experiences and reviewing their comprehensive packing lists. Everyone said to layer your clothes due to rain and cold anticipated.  We did and arrived early at Will Rogers World Airport for our flight to Vancouver, Canada.

Our first flight was delayed, and we ended up missing our flight to Vancouver and were rerouted to Seattle – arriving at 3:30 a.m. (to us) and leaving in 3 hours to Vancouver via Air Canada.  We “slept/didn’t sleep” in the airport and arrived about 7 a.m. in Vancouver, only to discover our luggage did not arrive.

No worries. We still had several hours before we boarded our ship to Alaska. But, our luggage did not arrive before departure. No worries. We were told they would probably fly it to our first port in Ketchikan in two days.

I was wearing shorts and a shirt and had another shirt, toiletries, razor and a change of underwear in my carry-on bag. The first two days – including “formal night” – we were wearing the clothes we brought in our carry-on luggage. Thankfully, we got a note on Tuesday that our luggage had arrived in Ketchikan. We paid $57.50 to have it delivered to the ship. No worries ... except, it was only Robin’s luggage, not mine! Begin to worry. I had filed a claim with Air Canada and finally received my luggage in OKC yesterday. I went without my luggage the entire trip and four days beyond – a total of 17 days!

We were praying, many of you were praying, and I solicited prayers from anyone I could to get my luggage back every day of the trip. I was reading in my daily devotions, scriptures like these in Luke, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes … how much will He clothe you, O you of little faith.” (Luke 12). That was me.

I continued to read Luke 15, the Chapter of Lost Things, about a lost lamb, a lost coin, and a lost son. I noted with great anticipation the joy that people experienced when the lost item was found. Lord, I want to experience that joy! And I did – after 17 days of praying, waiting and worrying. I celebrated yesterday by finding everything still inside my luggage, though it was battered and beat up (It was brand new).

So, what were the lessons I learned from this ordeal?
1.  I can get along with a lot less clothes than I think.
2. You can’t put your name and phone number on your luggage, inside and out, enough.
3. Lost things can be found.
4. Never pack valuable items in your luggage.
5. Worry empties your life of joy.
6. Buy air tags to track your own luggage.
7. The most important lost thing to be found is a person who doesn’t know Jesus. “There is more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who do not need to repent” (Luke 15:7). Lost people matter to God, so lost people must matter to us.

How focused are we on the lost family members, friends, co-workers and neighbors right around us? I pray we will care more about them than the things we can lose in this life.

Yours in Christ’s love,
Pastor Mark

Looking forward to seeing our men at Wee Too in the morning for First Fridays and all of you this Sunday morning. Be blessed!