Hundred Dollar Bill

By John Eklund, National Director East

“Someone dropped this in the parking lot and I wasn’t sure what to do . . .”

The woman speaking stood in the middle of the sanctuary. She held a cup of heavily creamed coffee in one hand and a rectangular piece of paper in the other. Our Celebrate Recovery cafe time was starting to pick up steam as folks exited their open share groups and headed for the desserts.

Clutched in her hand was cash. Big cash. Not a $10 bill or a $20, but a $100 bill.

Two questions came immediately to mind. Who in the world would be so careless to drop this amount of money? And then: How in the world am I going to find said careless person?

This mystery paled in comparison to the new one replacing it — a delayed realization that what we held was a counterfeit. Dozens of people gathered around to touch it, to look at it, to close one eye and stretch it out against the ceiling lights.

One young lady, a banker, went into detail explaining how to tell the real thing from a fake.  What struck me was how she concentrated not on what to look for in the impostor but on the prudence of having a knowledge of the weight, look, and feel of the real thing.

In essence, what she was saying is this:  When you have an intimate knowledge of the real thing, you can smell a fake a mile away.

“Jesus answered, ‛I am the way and the truth and the life.’” – John 14:6a (NIV)

Many of us have spent years chasing counterfeit sources of joy, peace, and meaning only to find ourselves bitter and bankrupt, showing empty, turned-out spiritual pockets to an unfeeling world.

Praise God for the authentic, lifesaving, life-giving truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Once found, nothing else compares. Once tasted, nothing else satisfies. Once held, there’s no letting go!