Another LIFE has Come and Gone!

I am just no posting this but last summer was LIFE Conference 2025. LIFE is a triennial conference for high school students of the Christian and Missionary Alliance. LIFE Conference has been described as “one long day and one short night” and that person wasn’t wrong. We were up and working by 8 am and didn’t get back to the hotel room until almost midnight each night. Part of my responsibility at the conference is overseeing the LIFE Office. The Office is the nervous system of the conference where information flows in and out, questions and complaints are brought and answers and solutions are given. I always try to find the most detail-oriented, problem solvers to work in the office. The picture above may have been the best team yet.

While not a major problem solving task, the LIFE Office is also home to the conference’s Lost and Found. As items are found throughout the convention center, they are brought to the office for their owners to hopefully come in and claim. Jewelry, water bottles, t-shirts, hoodies, wallets, iPhones, earbuds, bibles.  You name it and somebody set theirs down and walked away leaving it behind. Eventually the owner finds their way into the office and asks if anybody has found a ___________. And great rejoicing is had when owner is reunited with their personal belonging.  If an item hasn’t been turned in we have to tell them to just keep checking because it may show up, even after a couple of days. We try to be encouraging even though we know the deeper we get into the conference the less likely it is that their item will show up. But you never know.

On Sunday one of the youth group leaders came into the office and asked about a cross pendant that had fallen off of her necklace. We looked through the box of valuables (items not just sat on the table) and it wasn’t there. We told her to keep checking. Monday morning…still no pendant.  Monday afternoon…still no pendant.  She came back several times and the same story. She came back right before the last session Tuesday night…still no pendant. We encouraged her to check again after the session as that would be the last chance before the conference ended and everyone closed up and headed home.

Wouldn’t you know it shortly after she left the office, someone brought in that lost pendant. We were so excited that when she returned after the last session we could reunite her with this prized piece of jewelry. But she never came back to the office. She never left her name or contact information. And now while the pendant was found, the owner was lost. Sadly, the two were never reunited. She had lost hope and gave up the search.

That reminded me of the stories in Luke 15 that Jesus told about the Lost Sheep, Lost Coin, and Lost Son. The lady who lost one of her ten silver coins, lit a lamp, swept the house and didn’t quit looking until she had found the coin. And when it was found there was great rejoicing.  

We wanted so badly for this group leader to come back to the office. We wanted so badly to say, somebody found your lost pendant. I stood in the hallway hoping to see her, one person among 6,000, walking by. But to know avail. And God reminded me in that moment, never give up. Hold on to hope. Don’t quit searching, don’t stop praying, don’t stop sharing. God is always at his work! And because of that we always have hope no matter what the situation, crisis, or lost thing might be. 

If you have lost hope in a situation. If you have given up. I encourage you to keep checking, keep bringing the request, the pain, the hurt, the need to God. Do not stop until you get an answer. Marriage struggling…keep checking.  Job situation uncertain…keep checking.  Family or friend not walking with Jesus…keep checking. Feeling lost yourself or emotionally spent…keep checking.  Lost your zeal for the Lord…keep checking.  Don’t give up!

No matter what…keep checking back in the office!