lost coin, found money

From the Laughingbird translation of Luke 15:

"One screwed-up person getting back on the right track causes far bigger celebrations than ninety-nine respectable people who never left it...

...If you had ten coins — all collector’s items — and you lost one of them, what would you do? Like anyone else, you would turn on all the lights and go over the house with a fine-toothed comb until you found it. And when you found it, you would call all your friends and neighbours around for party, saying, ‘The shout’s on me, for I have found the coin that I lost.’

Let me assure you that the angels party like that over each wayward person who turns their life back towards God.” -- Jesus

Our big news is that we sold our car!!! It's been for sale on Craigslist, Facebook, word of mouth, any free venue I could think of, for nearly two and a half months . Finally it sold... and just in time for us to pay taxes (yes, we owe this year) and a few other of our transition costs not quite covered by a missionary's salary.

I looked up our bank account online yesterday, and there it was. "Lost" money, and now it's found. And just think, we'll be getting a little refund from our car insurance company too!

So I've been walking on air for two days. We were so ecstatic that last night we walked to the store to buy treats for our neighbors. "We sold our car," we said! "Here, have some cookies!"

One of the (many) things that I like about Jesus is that he doesn't frown on our happiness over "finding" a sum money. Instead, he uses our joy to make us dig deeper.

Just think, he says, how much more than that even, the whole Company of Heaven gets excited about "lost" people who make a turnaround.