I went out to eat the other night with a group of pastors at a restaurant in Sallisaw. Nothing in particular was planned, just a meeting to eat and fellowship with one another. We all had a great time. Got Jill and we loaded up in the truck and headed home. We got home and were still talking about the meal and the ones we got to visit with when suddenly Jill noticed her purse was missing. OH NO!

We looked all over the house, could not find it. We looked in the truck, not there either. We called the restaurant and FOUND IT! Waitress said she would hold it until we got there. So, we loaded back up in the truck and headed back to Sallisaw to retrieve the forgotten purse. I think we spent as much time driving back and forth to Sallisaw, twice, as we did eating and yakking.

The trip home prompted Jill and I to discuss the numerous times we have gone somewhere, left, only to return to retrieve something that was forgotten. We went to a football game in Copan, while living in Welch (our son was playing football or in the band or both). One of the kids with us left something in the stands. Of course, they did not realize this until we got home about midnight. The next morning Jill and I got up, drove an hour and a half and found the item in the stands exactly where the person said it would be.

We were eating at a restaurant in Tulsa (also living in Welch) and started heading home on the turnpike. About half way home I discovered I could not find my cell phone. Someone called it from their phone. A very nice lady answered it and replied that she figured someone would claim it. She would keep it in the office until I came to retrieve it. Oh, did I mention I was on the turnpike? We had to go to the next exit (Big Cabin) and turn around to go and retrieve it.

While traveling to Virginia (this time from Ashdown, Arkansas) to see my oldest daughter and her family we stopped in Jackson, Tennessee to eat and stay the night. The next morning we are well on our way, after an early start, as there was still a long way to travel, my youngest daughter, Jessica, could not find her new digital camera. After the panic attack ended, we reviewed everywhere she and the camera had been. It was determined that she left it in the Arby’s restaurant where we had eaten supper.

I called the restaurant and sure enough it was there. I was east of Nashville by this time, and I was not going to turn around to get it. The manager said she would put in the safe, and we could pick it up on the way back home. Five days later we stopped while journeying back home, picked up the camera and continued on home.

And then there was the time…well, I think you get the message. My family and I have forgotten several items. Cell phones seem to be the big item, but there have been shoes, clothes, books, wallets and a few other odds and ends. Most of them have been retrieved, however a few were donated to the lost and found collections.

The top reason for leaving the items seems to be absentmindedness or neglect (not paying attention). I mean, we didn’t deliberately just go off and leave thinking it might be fun to turn around after going an hour and a half down the road to find the forgotten item. It wasn’t lost, just forgotten.

Forgetting things seems to be costly. It cost in time, returning to get the item. It cost in fuel, to double back/backtrack for the forgotten item. It cost whatever the cost of the item was if it wasn’t found. It, also, cost in frustration, for forgetting the item in the first place!

As I was pondering all this last night on the way home from the restaurant, the second time, and recounting the numerous times these adventures were lived out, I came to a couple of realizations. First, God never forgets. He knows my name (Is. 43:1 & John 10:3), He knows all my days (Ps. 139:16), and He knows where I am at all times (Ps. 139:1-11).

But, God does forget, too. What, you may ask? How can God never forget but then forget (Is. 43:25, Heb. 8:12). My favorite Scripture is Ps. 103:12, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions,” and Micah 7:19, “You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.”

So, I see this as a double blessing in that God will never forget anything about me (as a believer) but never remember my sins (after I confess)!

God is truly good. Now, where are my glasses?

Bro. Tim