As I write this pondering our mutt is laying at my feet, sleeping. It is a bit surreal after the adventure she led us on a couple of weeks ago. On a Sunday night she apparently chased some deer that were in our yard a little too far and couldn’t find her way home. She ended up about 5 miles north of our house, wandering the fields and woods… lost.
Of course, we spent hours, even days, searching for her. It’s amazing how much a dog can become part of your family and ours had a hole in it with her missing. So many people helped us in the search for her and we were so blessed by the kindness. People drove the roads looking, posted sightings on Facebook and even searched on foot.
Finally, on day five, our son was able to catch her in an ingenious trap that he borrowed from a man who helps folks in situations like ours find a lost pet. She was tired, hungry and footsore. She slept for most of the first day home and had lost 7 or 8 pounds, but she was home.
While she was lost, I often thought… what she was thinking as she wandered aimlessly. Did she miss us? Did she ponder what had happened? Did she wonder why we didn’t come to get her? Did she remember the comfort of our home? Just how much does a dog understand of such things? But while I don’t know what she was thinking, I know what our family was feeling. We were distraught. The kids couldn’t sleep. That lost mutt was always in our thoughts — no matter whatever activity we were involved with — and we just wanted her home.
I hope we never have a repeat of the craziness of that 5 days, but while she was lost I couldn’t stop thinking about how God must feel about so many of the folks in our world. Jesus once said… “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” When I think of how worried our family was over our missing Molly, it makes me reflect on how Jesus must feel over those people who do not have a relationship with him. They are lost… wandering aimlessly… and desperately need to be found. I am grateful that when I was lost Jesus sought me relentlessly. And like those folks who helped us search for Molly, I want to help lead others toward Jesus so that they can be found too.
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