My bike, for the sixth year, was
locked exactly where it had been deposited the year before. Mark’s bike however was no were to be
found. My bikes, two of them, had four
locks holding them in place to my dismay the keys in my pocket only unlocked
two of them. Had I not brought all the keys with me?
I racked my brain for what I had done with the other two keys. As we walked away empty handed I hoped
I’d not left the keys at home. This
would mean cutting locks while being watched by CCTV cameras. I, slowly, remembered that I had put the
keys on two separate key rings, but could only remember packing one of
them. I have to return to the YHA and
dig through my stuff. We stopped at a
bike shop to check out prices and I was able to chat with Pip who had helped me
purchase my bike last year.
Back at the YHA I went through all
my bags emptying everything on to the floor of our teeny tinny room which
sleeps four. No key in that bag, no
key in that bag, no key in that bag only one left. Nothing on the bottom of the bag now let me
empty out the side pockets. Keys I found
keys, wait these are the keys I already have one pocket left. At the very bottom of the last pocket I find
the keys I need to unlock both bikes.
Life is like that isn’t it?
Searching for something in all the obvious places, then when we look in
the least obvious place we fine gold.
Some people spend a great deal of energy looking all the while missing the gold that God has but around them. I’ve missed it time and time again.
It reminds me of a story about a
prince in India who believed he was missing the most fabulous gem in the
world. The story goes something like
this he set off to find the most valuable gem in the world. While he was searching his palace fell in to
disrepair, his servants striped it bare using their new found wealth to build
their own palace. His family had to use
whatever money was left to buy food, but that soon ran out. One by one his family members died and little by little the jungle took the palace over .
After the many years of useless searching the prince returned home only
to fine ruin. He is in rags as he has
spent the fortune he took with him to pay for his journey. He wanders around then falls to his knees in
sorrow having found the graves of his family.
He cries out “Why!” as he looks toward the sky. Slowly he lowers his head and as he does so
notices a statue that has been in his yard forever. There imbedded in the statue is a huge
gem. In fact it is the most precious gem
in the world. But, it now means nothing
as those thing that were really the most precious gems are gone. Look around your “backyard” before you go off
in search of things that can be found there.
After returning to the YHA with
both my bikes we had dinner. While Mark
was entertaining a group of kids from Cornwall I placed a call to Claudia to
catch up on events of the last three days.
Her laughter is intoxicating, and she is always able to put a positive view
on things. Our SKYPE call just ended
when Mark returned with a picture of the group he had been telling a story
to. I tracked down my daughter who was
returning to Phoenix from Las Vegas then let my son, via Facebook; know that we
had arrived safely. It had been a long
somewhat stressful day time for bed.
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