Monday, February 19, 2024

There Will be Rejoicing in Cleveland!

Read: Luke 15:1-10

(It looks like I’m channeling my inner Sue DeWitt – here’s another dog-related devotion.)

Billie and I were walking on one of our normal routes, heading into Grosse Pointe Park down Charlevoix, when I kicked something with my right foot. I didn’t see anything on the sidewalk, so we just kept going.
After our three miles or so, having gone down to Jefferson along Three Mile Drive (Five Kilometre Drive I like to call it), and then back home up Cadieux, I realized that my keys weren’t in my jacket pocket.

I like old things, and I was wearing one. It was my Grandpa’s old jacket, and I discovered that I could put my hand through the bottom of the pocket – a new development, as far as I knew (and, as I said, I like old things).

Fortunately, Heidi was home to let us in, and once Billie was having her dinner, I headed out to seek my keys; but which way to go? Should I reverse my route, assuming it happened late? I started that way; but as I waited for the light to change at Cadieux, I changed my mind and continued along Charlevoix … wait a minute, I kicked something along here! Back and forth I went, looking in the grass on either side, under the bushes here and there, over and over … but to no avail. I started wondering what I needed to do about the lost keys (my house, car, bike, and church keys were all on that ring!). Then, a black SUV drove by, very slowly, and the driver rolled down his window and asked, “are you looking for a set of keys?”

Imagine my relief – and his – when he told me he had been driving back and forth, looking for someone who looked to be looking for something, and that he had been about to give up and try to figure out what to do with the keys he had found (my keys!). So, there was rejoicing on Charlevoix and back home at Cleveland, thanks to the kindness of a stranger who was acting as a neighbor to me. (For extra credit, read Luke 10:25-37.)

Prayer: Father, thank you for our neighbors; help us to be good neighbors to all. Amen.

Charlie van Becelaere