I had an interesting thing happen to me today.

Yesterday I lost my wallet. I was pretty sure the very active child I am sharing my house with was the culprit. I always put it in the same place when it is not in my pocket. And she knows where that place is. She has taken lately to liking money.

What made me doubly sure was that yesterday my daughter Grace was taking her on an outing and after she buckled her in the car seat noticed that her wallet was missing. She went back into the house and searched for it everywhere. Finally twenty five minutes later in desperation she had to abandon the search. Don’t worry I was watching Ezzie in the car in our drive way as I was loading my van with some of my worldly possession to move to a storage unit and one day to my bride's new house…… and all the windows were down……. Anyway I digress to assure you that my daughter is a very responsible caregiver even when desperately trying to find her only source of money and identification……

When she got back to the car and was about to leave a sweet voice came from the back seat, “Gracie what were you doing in the house so long?” Grace replied, “Looking for my wallet.” Ezzie said, "I can help you! Is this it?” as she held up the lost wallet.

Having experienced the child for three years now I understood so well what transpired and had great empathy on my poor daughter who the little imp had stolen her wallet from…..

But of course that solidified the idea that the little wallet snatcher had taken mine when it went missing. While she is very impish, one thing Ezzie does not do is tell untruths. When I asked her if she had taken mine she said so innocently and sweetly that she hadn’t that I knew something else had happened to it. Did It fall out of my pocket as I was moving and landed on the street? When I was intensely packing did I pack it too? Did Someone steal it out of the car? The thoughts were endless but the main one was it might be gone for good. I searched the house, car and every place on the property it could have been. I even checked the road near our house. Finally, like Grace, I had to leave. I went to church walletless and penniless. Fortunately Grace had filled up the car the night before so I knew I would not end up at the roadside begging for change.

As I was driving to church I began to meditate on the contents of the wallet and sunk deeper and deeper into a pit of despairing self-pity. It had over three hundred dollars of money I had just sold several items that worth far more than that. But they had to go in the detox exercise from my tendency to hoard my bride has put me on.

It contained several gift cards I was still relishing using when she got back from Holland on her yearly three week detox exercise from children and husband and all that goes with them.

It had my credit card and debit card. My only source of money in the age of plastic. I could imagine some happy soul spending thousands of dollars of my money at Walmart so I cancelled them as fast as I could.

It had my driver’s license, health card and two library cards. Just the thought of reapplying for all of them made me plunge to new depths of despair.

Finally when I was thinking perhaps I ought to forget church and go back home a curl up in bed in a fetal position for a year or so, I had a God thought.

I thought that perhaps this could be a really good time to practice what I preach. I teach people to give thanks in whatever happens. Seemed like this fit that. So I did. Wow what a great time I had. I live a long way from church......

Then another one of those God thoughts came. Jesus had shown me years ago that when something I had was lost or stolen I could give it to Him as an offering. That gleeful person spending my money with my credit card in Walmart really had no power over me since I could give the loss to Jesus. Kind of like giving a brunt offering.

Wow again! I was so happy by the time I got to church that I worshipped with full abandon and loved being there.

Later in the afternoon someone was asking me about not having my wallet with me and what could have possibly happened to it that I had my third God thought. I thought I should pray if God wanted me to have it back He would show me where it was.

As soon as I prayed that I had a picture in my mind of my wallet sitting on a car part that I had moved to the storage unit last week. So off I went to the container of most of my worldly goods, far too many on which I must agree with my bride, to check out if this picture was correct.

To my utter amazement there my wallet was exactly like I saw in the picture in my mind! To say I was awestruck is a total understatement. These things have happened before so it’s not like a first experience, but every time they do I am so overtaken with the reality of God. This was no different. I mean God showed me where my wallet was. It was a miracle!

It seems that everyday life dulls my remembrance of how real He is. I wish it were not so but I think most of us find the same. But when these moments break me out of my lethargy I am so grateful.

Since I met Jesus in my seventeenth year He has shown me how much He loves us all. One of the ways He does so if by being so connected to us that even such a small little thing like losing a wallet can become a moment of intense revelation and confirmation of His reality.

Kind of like a fisherman who once caught the biggest catch of his life when Jesus told him to go fishing after he had fished all night. As a result that fisherman, Peter by name, became the first leader of what we now call the church. Jesus seems to like to show up in the everyday mundane things of life to show his reality. You can find that story and lots more like it in the Bible.

So now like that Bible says about a woman who found a precious lost coin and invited her neighbors rejoice with her, I am inviting you to rejoice with me. Not so much that I had a miraculous experience that brought my wallet back, but that the great God of Heaven who is revealed in Jesus of Nazareth cares about you as much as me and wanted me to encourage you to know He is real!

Blessings to you from a very grateful follower of Jesus!

Leonard

p.s. It’s nice to have my wallet back too!