I lost my wedding ring twice in the last two months. Once in South Africa when I fell backwards in to a pool. Then this past week.

The problem is that as I've gotten older, my ring finger size changed. It didn't fit, so I moved it to my pinky on my right hand where it is too loose. And from there, it easily fell off.

We looked everywhere around the house - all the rooms where I'd walked. And in the garage and driveway. I prayed and thought about how I should have been more careful. It was in my thoughts constantly. I got the family to help me. We seem to lose stuff regularly. Leah is our best finder of lost stuff - she has a nose for looking in the right places.

I found myself praying more. "Lord, this ring has been on my finger for 45 years. It symbolizes my relationship to Karen. I know I need to care more about the stuff you care about more than I do this ring, but it's important - help me find it!"

And it prompted me to pray about my priorities: "You talk about your lost sheep and I know I need to care about them. My heart has grown more complacent about finding them than I have been them. I want to care about your kids like you do."

Then yesterday I had this thought: "Maybe it came off in some other familiar place and I just didn't notice." I looked in my backpack under an old hat, some glasses, and a bag of nuts. And suddenly - there it was! Sitting in the bottom of my bag.

I posted this pic to our family text thread and there was much rejoicing.

But then I began thinking about my prayers. "OK, so what was that all about? Do I really mean what I prayed? Shouldn't I care about the things that God cares about?"

I read Matthew 18:12-14

"If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off.  In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish."

Andrew Shearman says, "God the Father is a family man. He's lost his family and he wants to recruit other family members to go get it back."

I like that notion - that's how I've connected with God and it's how I've experienced his call. Losing us, his kids, hits his heart. He wants to send us out to find our family members.

Several chapters later in the book of Matthew, Jesus shares the parable of a wedding banquet to which we're invited. It's what we experience when we're found and discover our place in God's family.

Last night, our family in Gainesville, GA sat down for a great Christmas feast. The place settings were beautiful. The invitations had gone out and when our family assembled, it was a wonderful celebration.

I believe that's what awaits us at some point in the future. Losing your place at the table would be horrific. Losing my wedding ring was enough to remind me of something I've committed my life to - reaching out to help God's lost sheep. Christmas is about God launching his strategy to reunite with his family. It's a season of reconnection - God inviting us to reconnect. There's a feast being prepared for us - it's one I don't want to miss.