Valuable

"...and you," our guide said, pointing at me.  "Will ride Frenchie."

I couldn't tell if this was a good thing or not.  Certainly, it wasn't a great thing from Frenchie's standpoint -- I was considerably heavier than the others (all children) who were riding horses with me.

For the first little while, Frenchie and I got on splendidly.  She walked and I sat and everything was just great.  I talked to her a little bit, but she didn't respond much, maybe because she only spoke French, or maybe because she only spoke horse.

The only issues were that it was really hot and flies were hovering around incessantly.

I pulled out my cell phone and took a couple of photos of my children, who were also riding horses.  Then, I stowed my phone in my shirt pocket.

Suddenly, Frenchie jumped and then crow hopped to the side.  She kicked her legs again, unsettling me a little bit.  "Whoa," I told her.  This definitely was my first rodeo.

"Just swat the flies off her rump,"  the guide told me.  Once I did, Frenchie settled down and became a placed horse again.

It was about ten minutes later that I reached for my phone to take another couple of photos, only to discover that it was gone.  I told our guide that I thought it had fallen out when Frenchie had done her little bucking bit.

"Well, you can walk out with the next trail ride, if you want to," she told me.

I did.

So, after we got back, I found myself walking beside a group of horses, following the same trail we had followed an hour earlier.  A little way up the trail I discovered my phone in the grass and all was well.

I realize that I would have walked a lot farther than that to get my phone.  It is valuable to me.  In my line of work, I need to be reachable.  I remember my parents looking for pay phones and using calling cards, but that just wouldn't work these days for a number of reasons (including lack of pay phones).  Even though I don't like it some times, my cell phone is quite valuable to me.

Jesus told a story about a woman who lost a silver coin and searched her house from top to bottom until she found it.  When she did, she was so happy she threw a party.

In the same way, there is rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents.  Because in the end, we are valuable to God.  More valuable than a lost sheep is to a shepherd or a lost silver coin is to a poor Judean woman.

More valuable even than a cell phone is to a 15 year old girl.

That's how important you and I are to God.