Priceless Prize

Recently, I've been part of a Bible Study on Sunday mornings at Gethsemane Lutheran Church led by Kenneth Koehl. We have been looking at the parables for the last six weeks. Next week's lesson(September 23) is on the Parables of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin found in Luke 15:1-10. This song was written on the swing in our backyard after reading the parable and the lesson for Sunday.
Reading these parables reminded me of a story I wrote when I was in Japan(1992-95). It told about a man who lost his coin under a vending machine(Vending machines seemed to be omni-present there...I even saw a few places where you could buy beef in a vending machine) and the lengths he went to to get it back. If I remember correctly, the story was translated by a member of the church where I worked-Shirone Lutheran Christian Church- and run in the national Lutheran Church's newsletter.

Feel free to translate the following as necessary...
Chords and melodies avaialable on request.

PRICELESS PRIZE

Seven million dollars in a great big sack
Nine diamond rings in a fanny pack
An Honus Wagner baseball card from way back when
A folder full of stocks you purchase now and then
Put them all together add a cup of milk
Stir ‘em up in a hat
Pull ‘em out and add ‘em up
A hundred times
You’re still worth more than that.

MY HAND WILL REACH OUT TO YOU
WHENEVER YOU TURN AWAY
I HAVE GIVEN EVERYTHING
SO THAT YOU CAN STAY…
RIGHT BESIDE ME, WALK WITH ME
NO MATTER YOUR SHOE SIZE
FOR WHEN I LOOK AT YOU, MY CHILD
I SEE A PRICELESS PRIZE

The vase that you were given by your mother’s aunt
A circus with a least a dozen elephants
The guitar on which Hendrix first played “Purple Haze”
A manuscript of one of Shakespeare’s early plays
Put them all together add a cup of milk
Stir ‘em up in a hat
Pull ‘em out and add ‘em up
A hundred times
You’re still worth more than that.

CHORUS

A mansion in the mountains with a heated pool
An education from the nation’s finest schools
A Lamborghini Countach that’s brand spanking new
A dairy farm with several hundred cows that moo.
Put them all together add a cup of milk
Stir ‘em up in a hat
Pull ‘em out and add ‘em up
A hundred times
You’re still worth more than that.

CHORUS