We had one of those days filled with coincidences at Alta Laguna Park this afternoon. The recreation staff shares a small facility with the park staff, and one of the things we have disagreed on is the existence of a lost and found. When someone in the park finds a lost item and turns it in, we have a box where we keep the items for an undefined amount of time. In addition, we have some scavengers who stop by frequently, seeing if any of the lost items could fill a need in their lives. A month or so ago, a child’s scooter was left in the park, and it happened to be one of my tennis students who left it. Six days later, one of the staff gave it away to someone who wanted it. Unfortunately, it happened on the same day that the mother asked if we had found it. When I answered yes, and went in to get it, I found that it had somehow disappeared. I quizzed the staff member, who said that he had given it away, and I instructed him to get it back immediately. He wasn’t trying to do something wrong, and quickly made a phone call to get the child’s toy back. Consequently, I thought we had a new understanding that we should hold onto lost items longer.
“Finder's keepers, losers weepers” is certainly not a Biblical principle. To ensure that all of us learn this lesson, God brought a number of what many would term “coincidences” into our lives today. A woman who frequents the park was up there today with her grandson. He had left a toy in the tot lot, a toy we had picked up and moved to the lost and found. It had been there close to a month, but today was the day she asked if we had found it. A similar story occurred again. We acknowledged that we had found it and on the ensuing trip to the lost and found, discovered it gone. Once again, the same staff member had given it away earlier in the day! Three of us discussed the situation and didn’t agree about it entirely, but within moments, God brought us to an agreement.
With the grandmother still in the park, we asked the one who gave away the item to explain the situation to her. While he was doing that, the person he gave the toy to just happened to walk by! Amazingly, she had the item at home and the grandmother was following her there to obtain her grandson’s toy. At the same moment, another woman came to our little facility. Another item found had been a sketch book. The head of the recreation staff had searched through the sketch book, found a name, googled the name and found an owner. She had arrived to pick up the sketch book and bring him a box of cookies. Earlier in the day, I had returned a soccer ball to a tennis student, as I noticed his name on the ball.
All of us realized that God’s hand was in the middle of the situation, for all those people to be there at the exact same moment. The parks worker acknowledged that he will let us handle the lost and found, which includes getting rid of the items in a timely manner when they are piling up in the room. It made me think of Luke 15 and the three lost items…the lost coin, the lost sheep and the lost or prodigal son:
4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ 7 I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.
Luke 15:4-7
We all rejoice over that was once lost but is now found, whether it be a coin, a wallet, a toy or even the soul of a sinner. We have a new answer to the scavengers, who checking by in anticipation of finding another deal, “You can’t always get what you want!" Another one of God’s lessons!
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