strangers

(This article was initially posted around July 10th, 2019)

I experienced God in action again yesterday. It started with my cousin finding a dog. He (my cousin, not the dog), was on his way to work and came across this loose dog. Being the person that he is, he stopped and picked it up. Since he couldn’t take it to work with him, he dropped it off in my Aunt and Uncle’s backyard, the same Aunt and Uncle with whom I am staying.

Since my relatives are elderly, my cousin asked me to help out with finding the dog’s owner. I was more than happy to help and set out on the task of solving this mystery. I love a challenge, and I love dogs, so this was right up my alley.

began by contacting the local shelter, by phone and email, and letting them know that we had found a dog. I also managed to get a picture of her (it was initially assumed from the pink collar), which was a challenge in itself. She was young and full of energy and excited about this great adventure she was on. I managed to get a good photo of her face, and sent that with my email to the shelter.

I began by contacting the local shelter, by phone and email, and letting them know that we had found a dog. I also managed to get a picture of her (it was initially assumed from the pink collar), which was a challenge in itself. She was young and full of energy and excited about this great adventure she was on. I managed to get a good photo of her face, and
sent that with my email to the shelter.

Keep in mind that this is early morning, now about 7:00 a.m., and the places that normally offer help with these things are closed. Plus, this is summertime in Arizona, and it’s getting hotter and hotter outside; so I’m hoping for a resolution to this situation as quickly as possible.

As I continue to form a plan, she is jumping up on the door to the kitchen, and making whimpering sounds because she wants to come inside. Every time she sees someone inside, through the window, she jumps up and scratches the door. This makes it difficult for my Aunt, who is just trying to come into the kitchen to get something to eat. She just decides to avoid the whole situation and not eat at this time.

To help with this situation, I volunteer to go outside and sit with Ms. hyper-puppy, so my Aunt can at least eat. I work at home, so I just move my laptop and phone out to the back porch, and continue searching for any agencies that may be able to help with lost dogs. In the meantime, my cousin is texting me to see what is happening, since he feels responsible too, but has to be at work. At some point, he mentions checking to see if she may be chipped, so I take her to the nearest vet clinic to see if this (hopefully) is the case. Lost dog is really into a ride in the car, and I manage to find a leash in the garage, and hook her up for this, yet another adventure for her (and me). Thankfully, she is fairly well behaved and does not have any serious behavior issues. At least when she is with strangers. We get to the vet and find out that she is not chipped, so the adventure continues.

At this point, I’m thinking about making up some flyers and posting them in the area, so I return home with the canine wanderer riding shotgun. As I’m driving home, I get the thought to stop and talk to any people I see in the area where she was found. I stop at the first house, where someone is taking their trash bin back inside, and I stop to talk to him. He doesn’t recognize Shepherd? mix, and doesn’t talk to his neighbors, so I move on.

The next door neighbor is getting ready to leave her house, and I flash my lights and try to get her to stop for a second so I can talk to her. She does, and I find a possible owner for the dog with the pink collar, should I not find her original home. She doesn’t recognize the dog , but has a son who might be interested. Cool! I’m thinking “Do you think he would take
her now?”.

Okay, so now I really do have to put up fliers. It’s getting too hot to stop and talk to neighbors who don’t talk to each other, and I can’t keep her in the car forever anyway. I go back to the house, print up five flyers, grab the staple gun, and am ready to head back out.

But I suddenly have this thought to text a friend of mine from our local Church. He lives not too far away, and the thought is that maybe he would recognize this dog and be able to help. I send him lost dog’s picture with a text asking if he might know her or who her owner is.

This is where I finally see what God has been up to all along, and it is amazing! Steve, (not his real name), texts me back, and this is the literal quote: ” Pink collar? Ryka is the dog’s name, and the phone number is… “.

WHAT?! Had he been waiting for me to text him? Does Ryka get loose so often that even people half a mile away know her by name? Did she at one point have a tag on her collar, with a phone number? All these questions run through my mind, but I am very grateful for the information.

WHAT?! Had he been waiting for me to text him? Does Ryka get loose so often that even people a half mile away know her by name? Did she at one point have a tag on her collar, with a phone number? All these questions run through my mind, but I am very grateful for the information.

I call the number and have to leave a message. Probably her owner is at work, and won’t return my call until much later on. But the owner calls back within a few minutes, and explains that she was out searching for Ryka, but her “check engine” light came on, so she is now at the shop getting her car fixed. We make plans to have Ryka dropped off at her house, and all is well.

Except that I want to know what just happened. When I talked to the owner, she said she didn’t know Steve, which didn’t make any sense. So I texted Steve and asked how he knew Ryka? He says “Don’t know anything about her. :). My wife is on a community group where they have posted that Ryka had gotten out”. Oh, that’s not quite as mysterious as I had made it out to be. But it was…

If you were playing a game where you had to get a lost dog back to its owner, and these were the starting conditions:
• dog gets loose.
• dog gets picked up and dropped off somewhere else.
How would you go about it? No, really. Think about it. You don’t know where the dog lives, and you don’t know how far away it was dropped off. Oh, by the way, you have no internet access, or cell phone, or even an old-fashioned phone book.

IMPOSSIBLE!, you say. There is no way that I could ever re-unite this dog with its owner, given those conditions. Yet, that is exactly the conditions God works with every minute of every day, and he was able to re-unite Ryka with her owner in a very short amount of time, because He loves Ryka…, and because He loves you.

In the gospel of Luke, one of the themes is faith, and Jesus talks about how we have “little faith”, as in “Ye of little faith”. What I experienced yesterday was (I believe) the result of having faith in God to help me out in a difficult situation. So, not only did God provide for Ryka, in returning her to her home, He also reinforced my faith in Him.

By using the resources that He had clearly provided for me, I was able to be used for His purpose, and I give Him all the glory. The other side of this is Ryka’s owner. I have no idea whether she is saved or not, but I do know this: God loves her too. And by showing her the love that He shows each of us, I guarantee you that she is experiencing life just a little differently today, even if she doesn’t know she is.

And I think that is the whole moral of this story: Your life is affected by God every day and in many ways, whether you recognize it or not. So look for and appreciate all that He does for you, especially in the little things, and be thankful. And give the glory where the glory is due, to your Creator, to God.