Oikos video and a found earring

Dear Friends and Family:

Hello from Talca!  I have finally taken the time to upload the video (Oikos: Unto the ends of the earth) that I used during my tour through the United States at the end of last year and the beginning of this year.  Many of you have asked me to upload it so that you can share it with others.  Please feel free to do so!  

Here is the youtube link in English.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVGvr1A9FdU

I also have a little story to share with you...

⁸ “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins^[a] and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? ⁹ And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ ¹⁰ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Luke 15:8-10

I got up early in the morning last Thursday, dressed in a hurry and jumped into the car to drive about an hour from Talca to Curicó.  Once there, I went to a meeting, left the car at the mechanic's shop, stopped to talk to the church secretary, left some keys to be copies downtown, and walked back to the bus station where I caught the Talmocur (the bus line between Talca, Molina and Curicó) back home.  Once in my seat on the bus, I pushed back and promptly fell asleep.  When I woke up at the tollbooth that marks the halfway point, I reached up to touch my earlobe, a little habit to make sure my earrings are in place.  OH NO!!!  The back screw of the earring was stuck to the back of the left lobe but the earring was gone!  My heart sank.

Let me explain that this isn't just any pair of earrings.  They represent a 16 year relationship that I have worked very hard to maintain, one that has had its moments of deep pain and confusion as well as joy. These earrings, black stones set in  tiny workings of gold, were a gift from Pastora Isabel, the wife of the Bishop of the Pentecostal Church of Chile.  I have worn them nearly every day since she gave them to me, as a reminder to both of us that we are bound together in Christ's love, in the good times as well as the bad.  I felt the loss of this earring very deeply.

I searched the bus seat.  Nothing.  I searched my neckline and the scarf I was wearing.  Nothing.  When I got home, I threw back to the covers and searched the pillows.  Nothing.  Then I gave up and gave in, letting go of the earring with a prayer that God would give me the words to explain to Pastora Isabel that I had lost her gift to me.

A couple of hours later, I got started on my house chores.  I cleaned the kitchen and the bathrooms.  I dusted and cleaned up the yard.  Then I got to sweeping.  As I pushed the broom across a small mat at the foot of the starts, I heard a small clink.  My heard skipped!  I bent down and there it was,  my lost earring!  I immediately thought of the parable of the woman and the lost coin, and my heart filled with rejoicing just as hers did.  Instead of calling my neighbors to share the good news, I am writing this email to all of you!  I believe that the Kingdom of God is like a woman who loses her earring, symbol of a special relationship, and after nearly giving up hope, finds it safe and sound, in a most unexpected place.

Shalom,

E