the parable of the lost ring

i had a chance to really get into and identify with some of the parables in luke 15 today. ok, so they are about sheep, coins and sons.. but they are all about loss, too.

i came out of a shopping center, tired and unsuccessful (i have a gift certificate i am desperately try to buy t-shirts with.. if i ever find any decent ones.. otherwise i'll be forced to wear sweaters all summer) and headed to my donkey (my bike.. its "prophet" brand.. and kinda reminds me of the story of balaam, thus the name). but my key was gone! i keep my keys on a carabeaner on my belt loops. house keys and suitcase key (such a useless key post 9-11) were all there, but the one i needed the most, the one that would unlock my bike and let me sit down and glide through the spring breeze home, that small but important to me key was missing. i needed to get my spare to then bike around and look for the key. (yes, i have a spare and still planned to go look for it.)

so i carried my bike to the tram station, bought a ticket (grr.. i have a bike to avoid paying public transportation.. biked all winter through the snow, and now the first nice week, i take a tram!) and carried my bike home on it. oddly, no one stopped me or asked me why i was carrying a locked bike, and if i could prove ownership. so i got home and realized...

not just the bike key was gone. that would be annoying, but i have a spare. something much more valuable was gone: my RING. this isn't just any ring. kate would remember it from brussels. its the ring i got there, one i kinda felt was a gift from God, because i'd wanted a ring for awhile and i found this one- and the hostel said i could keep it. it's two rings really, one on top of the other, and the top spins. great if you have a boyfriend with restless hands, who otherwise turns your fingers till they hurt..... not that i do.....

so i prayed, and seeing as how internet was on for a few seconds, shot off an email to said boyfriend and a few friends who were on chat, and set off to find it.

i searched everywhere.. most likely i thought it would be at werder platz, (where i do street work) since i had been there earlier. nothing on the ground. i decided to ask the police. (odd side note: i felt for awhile i should introduce myself to them but had been to shy.. got my chance.. they didn't have the ring, but now know i do street work)

practically walking all the way to the shopping center, i was feeling less and less hopeful. i went in anyway, and asked at the information desk:

"ja, hi, uhm, i lost my ring and bike key.."
"yes."
"did someone maybe turn them in?"
"a ring and a..."
"bike key"
"yes" and she smiled really big.

i seriously cried, i was so happy. i kept saying "thank you God, oh thank you Jesus" all the way home.

so for anyone still reading...
i think i understand how the lady in luke 15 felt when she found her coin. i am emailing everyone back to say i found it and blogging it (just as soon as i have net) and am rejoicing. and her drachma was about a days wages. that doesn't seem like much. my rings probably worth less. i'd guess 30$. i don't really know. maybe even less.

anyone actually read this far and have a story they want to share? isn't it great to find things? isn't even more awesome to know what the parable stands for- that if these earthly things can mean so much to us and we search them out with such persisstence, how much more we mean to God.