Episode Transcript
Friends, it's all too often said that there are no miracles performed these days. But I'd like to challenge this idea with my story. I call it Lost and Found.
My wife and I were on our way to one of the Caribbean islands and we stopped off at the airport in Miami, Florida and we had our luggage with us. My wife had her bag. I just bought her a nice Mac laptop and a nice leather bag to go with it.
And as you know, when women travel, they have everything they need in one location. Phone, bible, wallet, laptop, bag. I've often said if my wife loses her bag, her world falls apart.
Well, that very thought was challenged as we exited the airport, getting ready to meet my brother in law who was going to come to pick us up. We had about four, four hours before our flight left and he said, come by my home and have a meal and I'll bring you back to the airport in time. While I was dragging my luggage, as we often are, overladen with a lot of luggage going to do the Lord's work, and I saw my wife jumping up and down and I thought, she's really excited to see her brother.
But that was not the case. And I went to her and she said with a frightening look on her face, tell me you have my bag. And I said, which bag? She says, my bag, my wallet, my laptop, everything.
Tell me you have it. And I said, I grabbed her shoulders and I said, honey, I don't have it, but I'll find it. And that was a statement of faith because my question is in Miami, outside the airport, in this large metropolitan airport, where do I find it? And I believe at that very moment when I said, but I'll find it, I believe that the Lord stepped into that moment to do for us what I knew only he could do.
So I frantically ran across the first roadway, the second roadway, the third roadway, and ran to the airport. By this time I was perspiring, wondering, wow, where am I going to find my wife's laptop in the Miami Air airport? Well, as, as I crossed the third road and was getting ready to enter the airport, I saw a very well built police officer with his radio to his ear and, and he was obviously talking to someone maybe on the other side of that, maybe another police officer, maybe his headquarters. And, and I noticed he was standing kind of like an A frame and right below him was my wife's bag with her laptop and everything that I knew was hers.
And by this time I was visibly shaken, perspiring. It was hot in Miami and I walked up to the police officer and he looked at me with, are you okay? And through this quivering voice I said, that's my. That's my wife's.
That's my wife's. That's my wife's laptop. I guess I look so honest and so frantic and so honest in some way.
He probably thought, who would go through all this trouble to just take something that doesn't belong to him? And I believe the Lord reached out and touched his heart. He didn't ask for any idea or anything. And he lifted up my wife's bag and he handed it to me.
And the miracle was, God preserve that pocketbook in an airport where I would say hundreds of thousands of people pass every day. And in this story, God showed me this very important point. All things work together for good to those who love God and to those who are the called according to his purpose.
Now, I told you my story is called Lost and Found. I wish that was the only example of Lost and found. But there are so many in my life.
My wife and I have said we have tried on several occasions to lose stuff, but the Lord always finds it for us. On another occasion, we were on our way to Australia at this time we lived in the Northern California area and we were flying out of the San Francisco airport. Well, as you would have it, you go through security, they say, well, take everything out of your bag for security purposes.
And I took my laptop out of my bag and put it on the conveyor belt and I went through in a hurry to get on my plane, our plane and 15 and a half hour flight to Australia, crossing the international date line. Now we are about a day and a half ahead of America. Well, when we arrived at our hotel and I checked in, my wife was with me and I was picking up my laptop bag and it was kind of light and I said, honey, do you have my laptop? She said, no, why would I have your laptop? I said, it's not in my bag.
She said, where is it? I said, well, I didn't use it on the plane. And I came to the conclusion, don't tell me I left my laptop in the airport in San Francisco. Well, I think I concluded that's exactly what happened.
And here I am nervous because all my information, my sermons, my presentations, because I was invited to be a part of a youth event in the Sydney area and I was presenting the very next day and how am I going to get my laptop? And the next question is, would they find it? So I called San Francisco. It was early in the morning Too early for anybody to even respond. And so they said we open at.
And they gave me the hours at 8:30, that is Pacific time. And here I am once again in Australia, a day ahead of whatever is happening in San Francisco. But to tell you I was nervous is an understatement because in many cases when a laptop is lost, I mean, it's lost, it's just not coming back.
Well, I waited for a few hours, I couldn't rest and I went downstairs a few hours later and I called and someone thankfully answered the phone and they said, sir, how can I help you? I said, well, here's the situation. I'm calling you from Sydney, Australia. And they informed me, now this is funny, let's put this together.
I'm calling from there tomorrow, I'm calling to my yesterday. Just try to package that in your head. Time zone is quite different.
And I said, well, I'm calling to inquire as to whether or not a laptop was turned in at the San Francisco International Terminal. They said, sir, I mean there are laptops and bags lost every day and people don't turn those types of things in. I mean, just consider it lost.
I said, but no, no, I think, could you just check? Could you, I mean, could you please check? And they said, well, could you describe it to us? I said, well, it's a Dell laptop, a Pentium 60, and, and if you open the lid, there should be a picture on the. A homepage where you can tell whose it might be. And they said, well, there are some laptops that are here.
Do you have a password? And I gave them my password and they said, is it a picture of your wife? A woman's on the picture? I said, did you get in? They said, yes, we found it. I said, no, honestly, do you have my laptop? Does it say in the bottom right Pentium P60? They said, yes, it does. And I said okay, thank you so much, could you send it to me? They said, sir, we don't send laptops to Australia.
Well, how am I going to get it? I need it for tomorrow. They said, unfortunately, you have to come and get it. Do you know what that means? I won't have it because there's no way I could come back and get it and be back here in time for my presentations tomorrow.
They said, sir, but sorry, we don't mail anything and there's no way we could get it to you. I mean, what about FedEx? It's not going to work. We just don't mail things.
Another quandary. They Found my laptop. But how am I going to get this laptop in time? Well, the Lord touched me in my mind and I went to one of the presenters at the youth event.
I said, are all the presenters here yet? They said, well, there's one more presenter that's still hasn't arrived. I said, who is it? They said, it's Pastor Iva Meyer. Where does he live? Oh, he lives in Central California.
Do you know if he's in flight yet? We don't know. So I said, do you have his phone number? And I called him and he picked up the phone, he said, john, good friend of mine, how are you doing? I said, well, I'm calling you from Australia, I'm in Sydney. Where are you? He said, I'm on my way to the airport.
I said, which airport? He said, san Francisco airport. Praise God. I said, okay, Ivor, here is the number, here's the organisation, here's where my lost, here's where the lost and found is in the San Francisco airport.
Here's the information that you need to pick this up. He said, no problem, I got it. Now that's not the crux of the story.
The twist is amazing. So when I called to find out what the name of the company was that discovered my laptop, you would never believe. God speaks in amazing ways.
The name of the company was Covenant Securities. You heard me correctly, Covenant Securities. In other words, God was saying to me, when you make a covenant with me, you don't have to worry about anything.
You're secure. Unbelievable. See friends in Australia, America, how do you get a laptop? Covenant securities.
When you're living in the covenant of God, your life is secure. And in my case, in my wife's case, your belongings are secure. And I got one more story.
So that was an amazing story. God works in amazing mysterious ways. I found my wife's laptop bag.
Everything was in it. I, I got my laptop, it was on my way. And the good news is my laptop arrived two hours before my presentation.
God is amazing. Once again. Romans 8:28.
All things work together for good to those who love God and are the called according to his purpose. One more story. We were in Orlando, Florida visiting my wife's family.
And I was also there to speak at a, at a particular event at one of the churches and do a concert in the evening. I had a nice travelling case with my mini disc player and all my mini discs that had all my music, original music, soundtracks, my entire library. Well, we arrived at my mother in law's home and took a little nap And I was resting there and I woke up and I said, honey, I'm going to be going to do some vocal warm ups.
And I looked and I didn't see my case. And I said, honey, do you have my. Do you have my mini disc? She said, no.
I said, you don't have it? She said, no. I said, don't tell me. We left it at the airport.
This is about two and a half to three hours later. Orlando, the vacation capital of the world. Orlando Airport baggage claim what are the chances of that laptop, that grey case still being in the airport? Well, to say that we drove to the airport fast is an understatement, but we did.
And I got to the airport, ran inside of the airport, right to the baggage claim where we had taken our luggage from earlier. And to my amazement, there was my grey case on the floor in the airport. People were stepping over it like it was invisible.
Not even the baggage handlers moved it. It was just right there by the baggage carriage, right on the floor. I walked up to it, picked it up and walked out of the airport.
Once again, all things work together for good to those who love God and to those who are the called and according to his purpose. So my wife and I had many stories where we lost many things. But in every instance, the covenant we have with God has shown us that when we make a covenant with God, we have security.
But here's one more verse I want to end with. And this is the beauty of trusting God and putting your life in his hand. Isaiah 65, verse 24 says, it shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer.
And while they are still speaking, I will hear. So in this age where miracles apparently don't happen when your life is in the hand of God, they do happen. My wife and I have miracle stories that we can tell you every day.
But friends, here's the key. Make a covenant with God. Give your life to Christ.
Put your belongings in his possessions, and when you are in his hand, nothing can touch you and take you from God's hand. No greater care can be given to you than the care that God has given to you. The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which is lost.
Luke 19:10. That also includes your lost luggage, your lost laptop, your lost bag. If he can find us, surely, friends, he can find whatever you have so lost and found.
I was lost. He found me. My things were lost.
He found them for my wife and I trust your life to the Lord, and whatever you have is in a covenant secure relationship with God. Miracles still do happen. This is John Lomacang.
