I can see God communicating His love toward me in both ways. He was outward, open, bold, and certainly extravagant in His love for me when He died for me on the cross. It's a love that is hard to comprehend in it's vastness and extreme value. While I could never downplay this life-saving, self-sacrificing, passionate love, what brings me to my knees in wonder and amazement is a completely different kind of love, one not on display, but quiet and private. Though it may not mean near as much to you, let me explain with a story. It's a...
Tale of Two Shoes
Wednesday night at church during the summer means one thing to most of the singles - volleyball. Last Wednesday was the last time we would get to play this summer for the college students would be returning, classes would resume, and the summer would officially be over. I love to play volleyball on Wednesday night and could not pass up this last chance to take advantage of the fun and fellowship it offered.
It wasn't until the next morning that I realized what I had done. I left my favorite pair of black shoes in the bathroom in the gym when I played volleyball. Having switched to tennis shoes, I left without ever noticing they were missing. I prayed a small request to my Heavenly Father asking that He keep them safe and help me to find them. You see, I had lost things at church before; I know how the lost and found could be like a black hole with things disappearing into it and never being seen again.
Sunday rolled around and I was able to look in the gym to see if by some miracle I could find my favorite, but lost shoes. I checked the gym's lost and found; they were not there. I asked someone else where else they might be. They thought that maybe they had been taken over to the main lost and found area in the other building. I had other obligations at that time, but I decided to look in that lost and found after church that night.
After asking someone where the lost and found was, finding the door was locked, wondering the auditorium several times (both upstairs and down) looking for a staff member with keys that was not in the new student meeting, being told I was looking in the wrong place, and finding the correct location of the lost and found, I still came up empty. No favorite black shoes anywhere. The church is a large church and considering that there are typically a couple thousand people at church on Sunday mornings and even IF they had been in the lost and found areas, someone else could have taken them, I despaired of ever finding them.
Tonight I was back at church for my weekly dose of babies and babysitting. Although I don't normally go in the gym, as I was headed out tonight, I stopped by to let the gym workers know we were all finished in the other building. I thought I would just take one last look to see if the shoes had by some miracle shown up in the lost and found, or if they had been hiding someplace inconspicuous and I had missed them previously. They were still not there.
I checked a couple other places and was about to leave empty-handed when I saw the door to the supply closet under the stairs was open a crack. Something nudged me to take a peak and see if maybe they had someone ended up in there. And there, carelessly tossed in the floor where my favorite shoes!
While it may not mean a whole lot to anyone else, I treasure this. To me, it's a minor miracle and major evidence that my Father hears, sees, and cares about the smallest most intimate details of my life. That He should help me find them nearly a week after I lost them when I had pretty much given up hope of ever seeing them again may sound silly, insignificant, and possibly even presumptuous to some. But I know that my loving Father heard my request and answered on my behalf.
