23 March 2012, Thursday, 1209, Liberty Middle School Library
We had a very traumatic occurrence the other day. Our pups...okay, they are really dogs, but they are much smaller than what I normally call dogs...got out. Daisy and Honey were discovered almost exactly a year ago out in the Old Field. We tried to find homes for them, but no one was interested, so we ended up keeping them. They have been a real source of pleasure and comfort during some challenging times. Tuesday, they presented their own challenge. Around one o'clock, they managed to get out in to the front yard. Of course, the front yard is the ranch and also the neighboring leases; and the highway. We looked, and we came inside. We looked again, and we came inside. It got dark, we came inside. I finally decided to walk down the road again calling them. It started to rain. This got really upsetting. I couldn't imagine them out there in the flooding woods by themselves. I pleaded to God to return them. I paced back and forth up the road fretting for them. Finally, I just decided. I'm going to keep looking until I find them. From then on, I felt much better. I walked back to the house and comforted Anna. She had printed out some bulletins just in case they went out to the road and someone found them. We drove to town and posted the signs, then headed back. Borrowed Grandmother's 4-wheeler and started looking. It was 9 o'clock by now. We went into the neighbor's deer lease. Anna shined the flashlight into the woods and I navigated the flooded roads. Every few dozen yards, we would stop and holler for them and listen. Finally, on the way out of the neighbor's lease, we paused, hollered, and heard a little yipping. Right ahead of us, coming out of the woods was Honey. Wet and miserable. We snatched her up, and Anna greeted her tearfully. I am still almost emotionless. Ever since deciding to keep looking, I was on mission. It's good to have a mission.
So, we decided to go ahead and take Honey back before looking for Daisy. Daisy would be the challenge. She is a beagle and when she gets a scent, the rest of the world absolutely disappears. Nevertheless, our mission was not yet over. This time, we went to our little tract of land that is adjacent to where we found Honey. I figured they wouldn't be too far from each other. On one of our stops, I heard a rustling from behind, turned, and saw an armadillo. If Daisy's around she might be on that scent. We waited a bit longer, and sure enough, there she was. After about ten hours, it was finally over.
God came through for us on this one. Why He allowed them to get lost in the first place, I don't know. Perhaps He wanted to demonstrate how He feels about us when we go off the reservation. Or perhaps it was a lesson in not giving up. Something interesting occurs to me when I compare the incident to finding them last year. For those who remeber, Anna, Melissa (her sister) and I were driving in the Old Field in the truck when we saw 5 puppies. Two of them came to us, but three ran off into the woods. We looked for a while to find them, but after a couple of hours, we decided to let it go. This year it was different. These were our dogs now. For ten hours, we worried, we agonized, we got cold and wet and we would have done it even longer. When we found them, I was ready to go all night. These dogs are cute, they are friendly, and they are fun, but they also still pee on the carpet, chew things up and offer no help in getting work done. We searched for them because they were our dogs. Not because they are cute, but because they are ours. They are not just Daisy and Honey, they are Daisy Crow and Honey Crow. They are family. That is their value.
It is a picture of my value. I can teach. I can lead. I can ride a horse. I pay too much attention to my emotions. I'm lazy sometimes. I can't run. None of these qualities good or bad has anything to do with how long the Father will look for me when I'm lost in the woods. The same goes for you too.
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