a PINK, draw-string sack. That is what my 41/2 year old BOY decided would house his newest coin collection. The child truly is an enigma. His little world is full of self imposed rituals, habits, routines, quirks, and yes, even "collections." My son can start a collection with absolutely ANYTHING! Cars, action figures, miniature pine cones, things that are red...whatever. His most recent collection is that of coins. When I use this term I am not referring to the accumulation of an elusive, rare but valuable item I am speaking of those things which his father dumps from his work pants onto the desk at the end each day. Mostly pennies, his "coin" collection also includes such finds as Chuck E. Cheese tokens and Mexican pesos. And, as if raising a child with such idiosyncrasies was not challenge enough, this morning comes the question I had been waiting for, "Mom, can I take my collection with me to the store?" I knew what this would mean. I do not have a shy child. He would grab his PINK sack by the drawstrings, hold it out a few inches from his body, and proudly command the attention of any vulnerable passerby that he could con into smiling at him. See, it's not just about having a collection; it's about letting everyone KNOW that you have a collection. "Sure," I told him, "bring the collection if you must." So off to the store we went and what is normally a mundane task (unless you have three children) quickly became a crisis circumstance when my son realizes that he has abandoned his beloved coin collection in a shopping cart at our previous stop. "Go, back for it mom," he pleaded with me. I told him that we would try, but that it might already be gone. We returned, we searched, we did not find. The collection was GONE. He was broken and, I must admit, I was a little broken for him. He loved those dirty little pennies.

As we rushed about the parking lot and shopping carts I was once again struck by God's abundant grace. He sought after me in my lowly estate, with no worth or merit to call my own, He found what was already His and bought me from sin and darkness at the expense of his Son. What a gracious God...to give me worth and meaning, not out of any NEED He possessed, but to restore me. Hmmm....

" For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to celebrate."