He that hath ears let him hear: My Planner is missing

My Franklin Planner was missing, gone, vanished. Like the woman who was missing her coin, I searched and searched. Like the shepherd who lost his sheep, I left my 99 other calendars behind to find it. Like the dad, whose boy took off, I patiently waited by the road hoping to see my little Franklin return. But sadly, unlike the lady, the shepherd and the dad of Luke 15, nothing was found or returned or had come home. The fatted calves of the world needn’t worry about a celebratory meal.

Here were the facts in the case of the missing planner. I had it on Sunday afternoon as I was leaving the church for home, but when I arrived at the Prince Castle it was gone.

There were only two scenarios that seemed reasonable to me…

1) An evil, calendar thief might have spied, envied and coveted my sleek Franklin planner with its zippered, black leather cover, which led this crazed individual with the heart of a terrorist to stalk, plot and swipe it when the opportunity arose on Sunday afternoon, or

2) I might have set it on top of my car as I was getting into my Chevy, and it ended up on the side of the road or in a ditch somewhere between the church and my house.

In spite of the high terrorist alert, I had a sneaky feeling that my planner became a victim of option #2. UGH!

I really need my day timer. It has all of my upcoming meetings and dates in it. It has important phone numbers in it. It has little notes that I have scribble to myself in it. And most importantly, it contained a couple of partly used gift cards to area restaurants. UGH!! UGH!!! UGH!!!

I cried to Pastor Volker. Like me, believing my planner was on top of the car as I exited the parking lot on Sunday, and calculating the velocity of my Chevy, the wind currents on Sunday afternoon, the mass and weight of my planner, Pastor Volker mathematically came to the conclusion that my Franklin must be in the water retention pond at the corner of the church property. Yet, in spite of his skilled geometric ciphering, his subsequent search of the area was in vain.

I called Karla and told her my missing calendar woes. She listened to me cry and moan and when I was done, trying to change the subject and encourage my disheartened soul she said, “Rob, what are we doing tonight?”

“UGH” I cried out, “That’s my point… I don’t know.” I sadly admit to you, I went back to blubbering and wailing in a manner the world has not seen since Jeremiah was stuck in a cistern. To everyone within earshot, in the King James English, I cried out, “He that hath ears let him hear: My Franklin is missing.”

I knew what my next steps should be:
1) File a Missing Planner Report with the FBI,
2) Contact the guy from America’s Most Wanted, and
3) Get my Franklin’s picture on every milk carton in America.

Before doing all of that, I decided to check my car one last time. Of course, I knew it wasn’t there. It couldn’t be there. It shouldn’t be there. For crying out loud, I had searched my car three times. Guess what? It was there! My car is not so big that I should overlook my planner. I drive an Impala not a limousine. And besides a few assorted burger wrappers and an empty water bottle or two it’s really not that messy. How could I have missed it? I don’t know. But there it was hiding between the two front seats. Hallelujah! My planner was lost, but now it is found! Start running big ol’ fatted calves, its party time!

I’m glad God is a better looker, a better finder and a better seeker than me. Like my planner, I was lost. Unlike me, God knew exactly where I was, what I was doing, and how to reach me. I am so glad He did. The Good News is that He loves all of us, doesn’t want any of us to be lost, and does everything needed to see that we are found.

If you have a loved one that’s not where they need to be, if they are lost—take heart: We have a God that knows how to reach the lost. We serve a God that cares for the lost. Unlike my planner, no one falls through the cracks with God. No one is out of reach or out of touch from His great love. So keep praying, keep expecting, keep looking to that day when your lost loved one is found! Don’t ever give up.