In despair Viki Patel watched helplessly as the bespoke engagement ring slipped from his fiancée’s finger and sank to the bottom of Lake Windemere. After many postponements due to Covid he had finally managed to take Rebecca to the Lake District and pop the question. But now the ring that meant so much seemed lost forever. ‘I lost all hope once I saw how the bottom was all mushy’, he said. Fortunately, the Lake District Diving team came to the rescue and after a 20-minute search the precious ring was recovered and returned to a very relieved bride-to-be. While she was left speechless an ecstatic Mr Patel praised the divers as ‘brilliant, brilliant’ men.
Such is the joy at the rediscovery of something valuable that has been lost. This is exactly this image that Jesus used in one of his parables to illustrate the joy that a loving God feels when someone turns to him. Concluding a story about a woman who has lost a precious coin and then searches the house until she finds it, Jesus said, ‘In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.’
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