Becoming Unoffendable
March 3, 2026BY JOE DUKE | PUBLISHED BY GUIDEPOSTS
“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
—Luke 19:10 (niv)
I never take off my wedding ring. So imagine my shock when one afternoon I looked down at my hand to discover my ring missing. A hot flash of panic shot through my body. Where is it? Did I take it off? Did it slip off my finger? Was it stolen?
I spent the next several weeks turning our house upside down. I looked in drawers and pockets, in shoes and car cupholders. No luck. My life had been invaded by that gnawing, unsettling realization that I had lost something of value. It’s a feeling I had experienced many times before, but never to this degree. Lost keys, misplaced pens, that missing flashlight—those all seemed trivial compared to the loss of my wedding ring.
Ours had been a whirlwind romance. Tricia and I met our senior year of college and were married the following summer. We were together when she bought my wedding ring. I still remember trying on rings and choosing the style I liked. My ring had been engraved with the words, Tricia to Joe 7-28-79, our wedding date. But after weeks of searching, I had to accept that ring she gave me all those years ago was gone.
I reluctantly began shopping for a replacement wedding ring. My gold ring was given to me by my sweetheart, long before the age of silicone workout rings. I peered through the ring cases in jewelry stores, shocked by the prices and disheartened about the loss of my sentimental treasure. But though I’d almost given up hope, in my desperate and sincere requests of God, I left room for some kind of miracle.
Some people say it’s foolish to pray to God and bother Him about our lost or misplaced items. But I’ve always believed God is interested in every detail of our lives, and asking for God’s help is never a bother to Him. Moreover, He’ll always be with us even if He doesn’t respond like we want Him to. My prayer had been consistent, almost hourly, “God, please help me find my ring.”
One morning, I was in our family room sitting on the couch with my youngest son, Brandon. I was planning my day, and he was eating his cereal. Suddenly, after scooping out a big spoonful of Rice Krispies from his cereal bowl, he said, “What is this?” There, resting in his spoon and surrounded by soggy Rice Krispies, was my wedding ring!
I couldn’t believe it! To say I was elated would be an understatement. Those weeks of dejection and worry as I searched for my ring had now been replaced with an overwhelming joy. I was holding my ring again. I washed off the milk and Rice Krispies and placed my ring back on my finger. All was right with the world again!
Somewhere between shock and disbelief, I tried to unravel the mystery of my lost and now found ring! Was this a miracle? Had God supernaturally placed my ring in my son’s cereal spoon that morning? Had it materialized out of thin air? It’s possible, but not likely. I then retraced my steps, now using the cereal as a clue.
I remembered, a couple of weeks earlier, Brandon asked me to help him find the prize in the box of Rice Krispies. I had reached inside the box and dug around until I found the prize. In that moment of hunting for the prize—with my hand completely plunged into the cereal box—all that Rice Krispy dust had loosened my ring. It had come off my finger inside the box of Rice Krispies! And there it would remain, hidden for those several weeks until it landed in my son’s cereal bowl.
So much could have gone wrong. The ring could have been thrown out with the cereal box. Or worse, swallowed in a spoonful of Rice Krispies. But it wasn’t. In a world of lost things, I had found my ring. All that could have gone wrong did not.
God miraculously placed my ring in my son’s cereal spoon that morning. In plain sight for all to see. He answered my prayer in a way I’ll never forget.
Published by Guideposts
* This article was included in God’s Saving Grace: True Stories of God’s Mysterious Ways (Too Amazing for Coincidence, 6) published by Guideposts, 2026.
