Intense Searching

Have you ever lost something that you just knew was still around, you just had to find it? You turn the car, house, office, briefcase, whatever you can find and wherever you have either been or think you've been or even thought about going in hopes that the item will show up. I have, it's one of the most frustrating feelings in the world, especially when you either don't find it or it was right out in the open and you looked over it forty times...Kind of like loosing your keys and they're in your hand! In Luke 15, Jesus told the parable of three lost things: a Lost Sheep, a Lost Coin, and a Lost Son, while He dealt primarily with the concept of being lost, He also revealed the necessity of intense searching. The fact that the lost item had such value that it could not remain lost, it had to be found regardless of the time and cost it took to find it. We generally use these scriptures to describe the lost sinner, the person who doesn't know the Lord and have a walking relationship with Him, but what if it goes beyond that? What if we can be saved, know and love the Lord, and still be lost? Is it possible that we become lost to ourselves, to others, and yes, lost to the relationship we have with Jesus, but not lost from Him? Is it possible that there are times when we lose our joy, our spunk, our desire, our intensity and must seek diligently until we find it? I think so, personally, there have been times when I just wasn't certain who I was anymore, I knew my geographical location, but wasn't sure of my place there, I had to search for myself, had to refind myself, and sometimes it required intense searching... I've also found that I and my stuff are usually where I left them, much like the student who came to the prophet sorrowful that he had lost a borrowed axhead. The prophet asked a simple question, "Where did it fall?", to which the student, in the water...he knew exactly where he lost his edge and I contend that most of the time we do too...We just have to look for it!