It’s been an exceptionally good holiday with my family, although it seems to have gone on for three weeks or so. We celebrated Christmas with all of the children and grandchildren, not at the same time. It is getting hard to get everyone together because of distance and schedules; it doesn’t get easier as the grand kids move up into their teen years. I am happy and grateful to have spent time with each of them and would not change a single thing. Sometimes celebrating differently changes perspectives and attitudes. The holidays are over now and I am ready to get back into a more normal, ordinary routine with just Dan and me.

Last Friday my daughter Lisa and assorted family members went to Gold Fork Hot Springs to soak in the pool for a few hours. When she returned, she was quite upset because she realized she’d left her Fitbit on the side of the pool. She tried to call the place but there was no phone service. She then tried to email but again was unsuccessful. Finally, she posted on Face Book on the off chance that there might be a response. Needless to say she was frustrated at not being able to communicate and mad at herself for being forgetful. Again. She tends to be that way, the proverbial absent minded professor. I offered for Dan and me to drive to the springs to see if it had been turned in. My husband was skeptical.

So after church today, we headed south toward the springs. My son-in-law had given Dan directions because we’ve never been there. The drive was very beautiful with fresh snow and sporadic sunshine breaking through the clouds. The road was also very curvy, narrow and long. It seemed to go on and on, one curve stretching into open areas and then more curves. I was very glad I wasn’t negotiating it by myself, especially since there was a fair amount of traffic with not much room to maneuver. The hot springs are popular!

As we drove I was having internal conversations with the Lord. I was pretty messed up from an earlier encounter with Holy Spirit at church, in a kind of fugue, if that is the right description. I asked God to locate the Fitbit for my daughter and then second guessed myself. Why would God bother with such a mundane item? And then I’d ask again. So it went back and forth in my mind while Dan kept the car on the road. Finally, I thought, “Lord, if the Fitbit is there, I will use this incident for a testimony, for the Gospel.”

Well, God always surprises me. And He doesn’t mind a challenge. When I spoke with the attendant at the spring’s yurt, he kind of grinned, opened a drawer and pulled out Lisa’s Fitbit. I was very happy, thanked the man profusely and said something about people still being honest. “Oh”, he replied, “people around here are pretty good like that.” When we got into cell phone range, I called Lisa to let her know and she was more than thrilled. Wow! That is awesome! Really? I can’t believe it. They had it, huh?”

Yes, dear child, it is God. He is the God of the personal and pays mind to details. He loves you and me so much that He delights in us and wants to surprise us much more than we can possibly imagine. He wants to bless us silly. He finds things that are lost and His great heart wants to bring us all home to Him. Today it is a Fitbit to make you pay attention. Tomorrow, Love will pull you into His arms. God is good and it is His goodness that shows up in people when we doubt. This I know and this I believe for you until you believe it for yourself. This is the Gospel, the good news of our Lord Jesus:

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.…John 3:16

He will use anything and everything for that purpose, even a lost fitness band. That is my Gospel prayer.