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We have spent a few months in the US to attend to some medical needs – including two surgeries for Gary – and to get Vikky graduated from high school and installed in college. God willing we’ll be returning to Costa Rica in October.

Up-to-the-moment news of our ministry! pictures! videos! Save a tree!! Our newsletter is now all electronic. And you can pass it along to friends and family. Email garyshogren@gmail.com to subscribe.

Tim and Ariel will be married on Friday, October 8, 11 AM. The service will be at the mansion at Ridley Creek State Park; see picture below. Email kshogren@hotmail.com to RSVP. BONUS! For those who can’t make the wedding, the party will be going on all evening long. Drop by at 6 Roberta Dr., Aston PA.

“The parable of the lost coin.” You can read this and other blogs at Gary’s theology website, justinofnablus.wordpress.com

8 “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!’ 10 Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

 I lose things all the time: the other day it was my constant companion, my iPod…so I couldn’t listen to my Audible Book. So, I think, when did I last have it, and eventually I found it where I thought it might be. But I lose stuff so often, I can’t be bothered to get upset. My wife said: “It’ll turn up!” “Yeah, it’ll turn up.” And it did.

 The people in the parables of Luke 15 are not that blasé – they feel their loss.

 The running theme of the parables is, what: that something is lost? Not quite. Something is lost and is found? That’s better. Or to be more precise: something precious is lost and then found? Or best of all: something precious is lost, and is found and the finder is profoundly happy.  Continue reading →