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Lost and Found

by John Bechtel

August 3, 2012

This week I misplaced something that is very valuable and necessary to me...my Bluetooth for my cell phone. When I became aware that it wasn't in the car (I looked just about everywhere it could hide!) and it wasn't in the room where we were staying at Lake Tahoe - I looked several times just to make sure! or in my pocket where I often stash it. I went back over the events of the day and remembered that I had set it down on the table where we ate breakfast on Sunday morning. Monday I drove back there to inquire if it had been turned it - NO! Nothing, nada, zip, zero. Could you check with the staff .. They did . still nothing. I even checked with the resort staff to see if anyone had turned it in to them. Nope - nothing.

I was determined that I wasn't going to let this ruin my vacation time! Especially after reading a few lines in the excellent book that I am reviewing for Multnomah Press: Living Close to God - When You're Not Good At It, by Gene Edwards. Gene considered himself to be spiritually handicapped - that is, someone who is not naturally spiritually inclined. But he felt the need to be - he was a minister and an evangelist! So he started on a quest to have a consistent, daily walk with God. He had difficulties with his efforts, even on occasion he would fall asleep during his prayer time! He notes some of the avenues that he tried on this search.and nothing seemed to click until one day he read that a person should memorize and offer to the Lord a Psalm. That became a life changing sentence for his spiritual journey.

He chose to learn Psalm 23 and in quietness he began to read through the Psalm again and again until he could quote it from memory. He had taken the challenge and the Psalm was his!

His next step was to turn the Psalm into a prayer. In quietness and slowness he began to pray the opening of the Psalm: "The Lord is my shepherd.." He says, "By the time I finished, I knew that I had gone absolutely nowhere." But he continued on praying the Psalm for several days trying to slow down his own thoughts and quiet the inner man..not an easy task!

Then one day as he was praying, without any conscious thought or prompting he heard himself say: "Lord Jesus, You are my Shepherd...I have no needs, Lord, not now, not ever. I never have had any needs..." With great insight Gene says, "As I began this adventure, I discovered that I had sought prayer, what I found was beyond prayer. I had found Christ." He had entered into a new, personal relationship with Jesus.

This morning as I was reading his words and going over them, I was given a peace about my Bluetooth ..that God knew where it was and that I had no need to worry about it. If it was lost, He knew where it was and that I could rest in His rest - knowing that He was my Shepherd. And that if it wasn't to be found - I prayed that whoever had it would be blessed by it.

A simple prayer - a simple assurance and soon it was time to move into action and pack up our things and load them into the car and return home. Carefully looking in all the nooks and crannies for the missing Bluetooth, but alas, I didn't find it.

We arrived home and I began unpacking the car, when Evangelina stopped me and told me that I needed to go and look in the bathroom. She wouldn't tell me what I was supposed to see, but I obediently went and looked and there was the missing Bluetooth! I hadn't had it with me on the trip after all - it was right there on the sink where I had placed it when I had cleaned up before we left.

It was a gentle reminder from Jesus:

I am your Shepherd. You are my sheep. You have no needs. I have given you My rest. I am rest. I am your food.. (I am your Bluetooth ..listen to Me!)

Jesus personalized for me this most precious Psalm.. And taught me that nothing was too small that He couldn't take care of .. even the missing Bluetooth.

(And by the way I finally remembered what I had set on the table - my hat - before I moved it to the chair - and that I almost left IT there... awwwww those precious senior moments! --- MAY THEY BE FEW!)

Blessings in Jesus!

Pastor John L. Bechtel