Last week I went for a bike ride in the evening with Kevin M. and Taylor. We stopped by the lake and I took a few pictures. Kevin M. borrowed my camera to take some pictures of a spider web. I took a few more pictures and then stuck the camera in my pocket and we headed home. When we got home I put my hand in my pocket to get the camera and it wasn’t there. I had a sick feeling as I realized that I had lost my camera somewhere between the boat launch area where we had been using it and home. Kevin M. and Taylor joined me in riding back over the area in search of the camera. Taylor and I also walked the area again looking for it. In the next couple of days, several of the kids and I went looking again.
In the hope that someone may have found it, I called the relevant local law enforcement agencies to report the lost camera. I also placed an ad in the classified lost and found section of our local paper. So far no one has reported finding it.
I felt terrible when I lost it. It’s actually a camera Kevin had bought so he could have a handy pocket camera to grab and take with him more conveniently than taking his larger, nicer camera. When I told him I had lost it, he replied, “it’s just a camera.” While looking for it on the trail I was struck by the thought that it was “just a camera” and thought of times when I’ve seen reports of groups of people looking for a lost child. How heart wrenching it would be to have a missing loved one. In light of eternity, a lost camera really isn’t that big of a deal.
Kevin pointed out to me that after a couple of days of being out in the rain and cold, if someone hasn’t found it, the camera would be worthless anyway. Losing the camera has been a good reminder to me that stuff really isn’t important. What matters is the eternal. I want to store up treasures in heaven not on earth.
Matthew 6:19 (ESV) “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Kevin took this picture of the new camera he bought for me. Thanks to my generous husband, I made out quite well since this is a better camera than the one I lost.