My God…And My Ring

My phone rang last Tuesday. It was the police…from Folsom, CA. I live in Wisconsin. Hmmm. “This is Officer Wells, and I was wondering if you are missing a high school class ring?”

After stuttering a bit I said, “Yeah, I vaguely remember losing my ring in my senior year of high school about 37 years ago.” “Well, we found it.”

So there I was, living 2000 miles away 37 years later and a ring I hadn’t even thought about for 36 years was back in my life. Apparently stolen property all these years was going to return to it’s rightful owner. I can’t say I missed it. I remember losing it in a locker room my senior year, just months after I received it. So I didn’t have an overly emotional attachment to it. Nor was I ever big on wearing jewelry. So besides the $250 I lost, not too many tears were shed. But it feels different now though. It seems like a long lost friend… with an unknown history. Who had it? Whose finger or around whose neck had it hung? I’ll never know.

What was amazing was that this ring, which had been on my finger for such a short time 37 years ago, found me again. My thanks to Officer Wells who took the time to figure out the initials in the ring were mine, matched that to a graduation year, and then found me through an online search. To me, that was above and beyond, and good detective work.

As I was reflecting on what was lost, and now is found, I of course was reminded of the familiar Bible passage as the prodigal son “was found” by his father in Luke 15:32. I was also reminded of my relationship to my God.

I did not go looking for God. In fact, left to myself I’d not have given him another thought. Colossians 1:21 says, “Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.” Even though I was alienated from God, he was not from me. He had put my initials in his heavenly book, sent his Son to die for me, and then tracked me down. He went above and beyond. I was not lovable, but he loved me. His diligence was nothing short of amazing.

“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.” Romans 5:6 Our savior died, yes. But his death was not for lovable people, but unlovable. Ungodly. It should be a comfort to us that our diligent, passionate, loving and gracious God will not lose track of us. He will find us and do whatever it takes. Our part is easy. Be found.

Thank you God for not giving up on me. For finding me. For saving me. I look forward to an eternity with you!

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