“Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?  And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (Luke 15:8-10)

Earlier this week the Bluetooth headset in my car decided to go AWOL.

As one who averages 2 hours a day in an automobile, I had gotten into the habit of getting a fair bit of work done over the phone while driving back and forth. Thanks to a  wireless plan that offered unlimited long distance anywhere in North America, I could not only keep in touch with members of our churches locally, but also with family, friends and ministry associates in Canada and the United States while I was on the road.

All of a sudden, that blessing was taken away from me. I tried using the speaker on the IPhone, but it was not the same. Road noise affected the clarity of the communication to the point where it was very frustrating. So I would let the calls go to Voicemail and return them when I got off the road.

Needless to say I searched in the usual spots where one would expect it to remain hidden. The glove compartment? No. The all-purpose storage cavity that houses the cigarette lighter? No cigar! The much deeper armrest storage space with the CD’s. Nosiree.

Perhaps it fell on the floor. I lifted up the floor mat on the driver’s side. Not there. Ditto for the passenger’s side. No Bluetooth.

Did I bring it into the house to get it charged? The sight of the poor charger curled up all by its lonesome disproved that theory in a hurry. Was it accidentally left in one of my shirt or pant pockets? No luck there either.

It had to be in the car, for sure. But where? I even got down on my knees and searched under the seats. Still no sign of the prodigal headset.

One day went by. Two days. Three days. I am now seriously contemplating the possibility of procuring a replacement. Then I sensed a nudge to go look again under the car seats yesterday afternoon.

On the passenger’s side I saw something I hadn’t noticed before–a gas receipt that had fallen down. I figured I might as well pick it up and take it into the house. No sooner had I started to remove it than I noticed the Bluetooth. It had been under that receipt all along. Finally earlobe and headset were reunited. And there was great rejoicing!

The entire experience reminded me of a recent DWOD entitled: “Not Lost, Just Not Been Found Yet.”  You may recall reading about our experiences with a Treasure Hunt, where we sought and found God’s treasures according to the clues He had given us.

This morning, as Sulojana and I sat with our good friend Peter Kumar at the breakfast table, he talked about how many Christians get so excited about supporting missions initiatives in nations other than their own. He ministers in at least 30 countries a year and confirmed that this is true of the “western” church for the most part.

Many Christians are not all that excited about reaching out to their neighbours in the “local village.”  They would rather write a cheque for someone else to fulfill the Great Commission by proxy!

But the fact remains that there are millions in our own backyard who still need to be reached for Christ. Are we perhaps simply travelling along life’s road blissfully unaware that these “head-sets” are hidden at arm’s length? Yes, it takes extra effort to find them. Yet, what price tag can we place on one who “once was lost, but now is found?”

Dear DWOD friend, would you ask the Lord to make you like the woman in Jesus’ parable who simply would not rest, but swept and sweat until she found the precious lost coin?