There’s a story to this picture. This past weekend we were driving to see our son in Colorado when we pulled off the interstate for a minute. My wife was sleeping, and my daughter was driving when we were in the middle of nowhere in Northeastern Colorado. The exits on that stretch of interstate are about 10 miles apart. It’s a desolate area. It was one stop on a long, 11-hour drive. We arrived at our hotel that night and while we were getting our luggage my wife told me she could only find one shoe. I had noticed her shoes when I got out earlier in our journey, but I thought I was careful; however, one shoe was missing. Laura walked to our room with only one shoe on—she really did! I was sorry, but there was nothing I could do. They weren’t expensive, but they were new shoes.
We had a great weekend, dropped our daughter at the airport, our son back at school, and we hit the road. My daughter told us that she thought we were about 2:20 from our hotel when we stopped. Our hotel was south of Denver so Laura plugged in the address and tried to figure out what exit we might have stopped at. She offered to drive and we arrived at the exit where she thought we might find her shoe. We pulled off the road and there was her shoe, sparkling in the sunlight. We were both so thrilled—my wife because her detective work paid off and me because the shoe I accidentally kicked out of the minivan was found undamaged. Some lost things are found.
I’ve been thinking a little about finding things that are lost. My son texted me this week that he needed his social security card. I went to the place in the house where I keep them, and it wasn’t there. I found passports, birth certificates, and other social security cards, but not his. Laura and I looked all around in every place we could imagine, and we never found it. Some lost things are never found.
My wife’s shoe did nothing to be found. It was in exactly the same spot as when it fell out of the car three days previous. And I know my son’s social security card hasn’t done anything to be found because we haven’t found it!
Every person alive today was lost; some have been found. But if you were found, it’s all because of Christ. You did nothing to be found.
For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. Luke 19:10 (ESV)
I’m glad Jesus sought me and saved me. I’m glad salvation doesn’t depend upon me. If it did, I’d still be lost—like my son’s social security card.