I asked, actually I begged, my kids for Christmas lists. Monique e-mailed hers to me, complete with Web site links. A few online orders, a little mall time, and I was done with her.

Lauren left her list on the kitchen counter. It is the first Christmas list I have ever received that needs a key for reading it. Each request has stars beside it. Four stars means “really, really want/need to live,” three stars, “love it” and two stars, “could live with or without.” Only a couple of items had four stars: “pass statistics” and “flat, brown boots.” Since there is nothing I can do to help her to pass statistics, I decided to get the boots.

After searching store after store, I went to Macy’s. Finally, I spotted them. Flat boots with beautiful, soft leather that reached my knee. Perfect. I turned over the boot and said to my friend, Linda, “$75. That’s a little more than I want to spend.”

“But you have a coupon,” she reminded me.

“Right! And surely they’re on sale, everything else is.” I asked the salesclerk for Lauren’s size, and I asked her to check the price.

“Five hundred and,” she began.“What?” I said as I flipped the boot over to look at the price again. $575! “Oh, no,” I said, “I thought the 5 was a dollar sign!” No wonder it was so soft and so perfect. It was a very valuable boot. So I carefully, very carefully, placed the boot on the table. Even with my coupon, I was not willing to pay the price.

That little shopping expedition has me thinking about the extravagant love of God. Knowing who we would be, the bad things that we would do, and the good things that we would fail to do, God still wanted us to live with Him forever. The price tag of our salvation? John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” Jesus paid the ultimate price for our sins. When I list what I am most thankful for, His name is at the top. With four stars.

Ronny may be reached at rmichel@rtconline.com