The keyfinder

I have had some pretty large miracles come my way in these last 44 years, healed twice from critical medical problems, saved from many a near-death crash (mostly on roads in Eastern Europe), but there are other types of miracles, and none the less spectacular, even if the immediate consequences may have been smaller.

Last year I can tell you that the winner of the miraculous moment (outside of spiritual affairs) was finding a lost contact lens in a huge apartment! This year it will undoubtedly be what happened today. I just returned from the States settling Heidi into college and I have a few days here with the other two kids before they leave for four months of school in Germany. So at Helen’s request, we went to Sveti Naum today, which is where Macedonia meets Albania in the southwest corner of the country. Lake Ohrid is great for swimming at this time of the year, although it is a little cold. Here is a picture for you, so that you can see that the lake is large indeed.


So we decided to make a day of it and we did. We went swimming and played ball and shopped and bargained with the sellers and in general were having a good time. Then I we were getting ready to move our gear back to the car when we realized that dad had made the ultimate boo-boo . . . I had the car key in my pocket when I went into the water and I lost it! In this huge incredibly large lake, I lost the one and only key to the car. The Peuguot’s have one special electronically matched key, and to get another one for the ignition, you have to go through a huge deal to get it! But that was not the worst of it, my wallet was locked in the glove compartment of the car! We had no cell phone with us, and even if I did, I have no one’s new number! No money, no car, no phone . . . we did what ever good missionary family would do . . . we all went back into the lake and began looking for the key.

I must admit that I prayed more this afternoon than I have most days this month. I have praised the Lord much this month for the beautiful creation He created, and I have prayed for Heidi as I left her in the States, but not as intensely as I prayed this afternoon. The timing was horrible with the kids needing to get back to Skopje and pack and mark their clothes and all the jazz related to moving back to boarding school, not to mention we had no extra clothes, no personal items . . . you get the picture.

I will admit that we all searched with a sincere and focused intensity, but let’s face its a small small key and a big big lake.

Jake found the key! Actually we all are certain that God lead Jake to the key, but the immensity of what happen is more than a bit breathtaking. I guess I needed a reminder that God cares about the little things too, and that a small key in a big lake is no challenge at all for Him. I wonder what other things He has done around me today that I did not notice?