"Favorites"

My son LOVES money.


Not like a lot of us love money...he's actually not all that interested in spending it (yet...he is 9 years old). But he loves counting it, sorting it, looking for specific dates to fill his coin books, and just generally having it around.


His favorite thing to do, though...is to LOOK for it.


He is that kid...the one who you see looking under every vending machine, and poking his fingers in the change return slot. As much as I have tried to discourage it (let's be honest, not because it is wrong, but because it embarrasses me), he still does this EVERY time he sees a vending machine. So, I've stopped trying to discourage it. Not just because it's useless to do so, but because there is something beautiful about his innocence and the way he could care less what others think of him on his tummy on the floor looking under the machine for dropped money.


And he has found a LOT. I would say he finds coins, or sometimes bills, about 50% of the time. One time, at a gymnastics meet, he found a $5 bill under a machine! That gave him all the motivation to keep looking.


"There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance." Luke 15:7


I suppose the money that's at home in his dish already...you know, the "insider" money...the money that has already been "found," could get jealous that he doesn't pay as much attention to it. But jealous or not, his passion is finding lost money, and filling out his coin books. As long as there is a single open slot (for a 1962 penny, for example) he is going to keep looking because he knows the collection is not complete.


God is always searching for the lost. That doesn't mean those of us who have been "found" are less important...it means that as long as there is even one open slot...even one person who hasn't been touched by the unending peace and mercy God has to offer...God's going to keep looking...and there will be much joy any time the "collection" is expanded. (And, of course, if you want an even more obvious connection with the Bible, read Jesus' parable of the lost coin in Luke 15:8-9)


It turns out my favorite group of people are the people who are not already engaged in our congregation...not because I don't care about the people who ARE there, but because SO MANY of my friends growing up had negative experiences in churches, or no experiences, and in that way, I am keenly aware that there lots of open slots.


May we all join with Christ in seeking the lost, seeking Christ when we are lost, and rejoicing every time the barrier between "outsider" and "insider" is destroyed.