never lost

what we have is a [goshdang]
miracle here and i'd like you
to kindly acknowledge it!

i have a "tally hall" key chain. it's about the size of two postage stamps placed next to each other. one side has say "tally hall" in white letters on black and the obverse is the opposite, black on white and even written backwards as if in a mirror. those clever guys... it's a nice replacement from my remote door locker that stopped working six months after i got my car.

about a months ago, the plastic with the logos started to come unglued. i should really stop being surprised about that: the heat and humidity here do that to everything. my "tally hall" sticker magnet that survived several utah seasons quickly dried and cracked in the texas sun. my "they might be giants" replacement lasted only a few months before succumbing similarly. and now the plastic graphics on my key chain have been slowing sliding off.

as i was leaving institute last week, i pulled out my keys and saw that the white side of the key chain was gone. i checked my pocket, thinking that i had been pulled on in there; i checked the ground around me and the sidewalk that i'd just walked down. nope. i considered going back and checking inside, but my keys had been in my pocket the whole time. i hated that it was lost, but there wasn't much i could do.
welcome to life in a telestial world.

leaving work today, i was walking to my car and saw what looked like a piece of tape on the ground by my door. i hoped for a minute that it was the missing part of my key chain but dismissed that as quickly as it came. i reached down and picked it up.

it was the white piece to my key chain.
i thought that was pretty cool and, better still, it was sticky enough that i was able to slap it back into its spot. i got in the car and then thought about this a little further:

i lost this a week ago.
i didn't even lose it here.
nor was i even parked in this spot when i lost it.
there are no pockets that this piece could have fallen into then and just now fallen out of.
the keys hang in the ignition, which is nowhere near the door. there is no place for it to have fallen from.
in short, there is no possible way for this to have been laying right beside my car.


but it was.


and there may or may not have been a little note with it saying,

Dear Jeff, 

Remember, nothing is lost to Me.
And nothing in your life is too small for Me to notice. 

Love,
Your Heavenly Father

in fact, i'm pretty sure that note was there.



Thanks.