Lost and Found by Tami Gilman

One morning my phone rang at 4:50 am and a friend of mine was on the line. She was headed to the hospital to be with her mother who was having difficulty breathing and asked if I could stay with her kids until she got back. Her husband is deployed to Iraq and my husband was out of town, but between the two of us, we would manage. I jumped up, fed my dogs because they have no sense of time, let them outside and threw on some clothes so I could get there quickly. Once at my friend’s house, I actually went back to sleep. I got back up in time to pack the kid’s lunches and get them ready for school. It was all quite uneventful, until I got home, that is.

I let my dogs back outside since they had only been out a few minutes earlier that morning. I finished getting ready for work and went to the front door to let my precious little bundles of fur back in the house. To my surprise, they weren’t waiting at the front door, grateful to even be allowed in the house in the first place. No, my babies had decided that life in my yard was not exciting enough and decided to seek adventure elsewhere. I called their names, expecting them to run happily toward the sound of my voice. I am their mother, after all. I feed them, pet them and make sure they are well taken care of. My husband plays with them. They should certainly know that they are loved. Yet, of all mornings, they decided that they indeed were discontent.

I hopped in the truck and headed around the neighborhood looking in yards for any sign of my delinquent pets. As I rounded the corner, I spotted one of my dogs in the neighbor’s yard. I called his name expecting him to be pleased that I was searching for him, yet he looked at me in surprise and took off like a shot! He ran to my friend’s house and came to a screeching halt on her front porch. He seemed to be relieved, as though we were playing a game and he reached home base where he would be considered “safe.” As I am scolding him for being disobedient and ungrateful, I see my girl dog, Kailey, trotting through the yard. She ran toward the fence as if to will herself into my friend’s back yard and be free from any consequence. I truly believe they know better when they are misbehaving.

I finally coaxed the dogs in the truck, took them to the house, grabbed a lint roller and headed to work. Being that I was now late and my blood was already boiling, thoughts were raging in my mind about how ungrateful my dogs really are. Who do they think they are? They have it so good and are taken care of better than some people, yet it is not enough. As I am stewing over this situation, I felt like the Lord impressed upon me, “Well, now you know how I feel. I care for my children, I provide for them, beckon to them and yet sometimes they ignore me. Sometimes they are even blatantly disobedient.” Now that will stop you in your tracks. Not literally, because that would have caused an accident, but you get the idea.

I realize that my dogs running away does not impact anyone other than me, but doesn’t it resemble the disobedience we sometimes show toward God? He is our Father, Healer, Provider, Source of Strength, and yet we often ignore Him or run in another direction. We seek refuge on someone else’s porch. That morning I realized that as angry as I was at my dogs, I still love them. Even when they run away or don’t listen, I will still welcome them home. God’s love for his children is an infinite amount greater than mine and I became more aware of this through a very frustrating situation. There are consequences for straying, but even when we are disobedient, God doesn’t leave us where we are. When we are willing, He picks us up, takes us home and puts us safely where we belong.


Luke 15: 4-6 "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home.