Two weeks ago, we were on our way out the door to go to a small group meeting. With four kids, the process of getting out of the door and loading up the car always seems to be a little more difficult than it should be. I asked the kids to put our dog in her kennel. They went outside and started yelling for Zoe to come in to the house. Unfortunately Zoe did not respond. Maybe she was upstairs in one of the kids rooms. We split up and started looking for her, but she was nowhere to be found. After about ten minutes, we made a sobering discovery. There was a hole in the back gate. It wasn't a very big hole, but Zoe is a small Boston Terrier. She did not need a very large hole to in order to make an escape. Unfortunately, our back gate opens onto a busy street. I was scared for our dog, but the kids were approaching panic. Small group would have to wait. We had to find Zoe, before she got hurt. 

We split up and went in different directions looking for the dog. We went street by street yelling for Zoe. Anytime we would see someone outside we would stop and ask if they had seen our dog. No one had seen the dog, but as we were asking people about her an interesting thing started to happen. More than one person said that they would join the search. Within an hour, there were probably twenty different people looking for our dog. Some of them were neighbors that we knew, but some of them were people that we had never met before. All they knew was that a little dog was missing, and there were four kids who were very upset. It was getting dark outside, and more and more people were joining in the search. I was genuinely touched by the show of support from our neighborhood. After about three hours we had to suspend the search, but multiple neighbors said they would be back first thing in the morning to resume the search or put out flyers.

It was a long, sad night at our house. The kids were in tears, and my wife and I  the doing our best to keep a positive attitude. We prayed together as a family and asked for God to protect Zoe while she was lost. Nobody slept very well. The next morning we got a call letting us know that Zoe had been found. She had spent the night at the Collierville Animal Shelter. It seems that some teenagers had found her in a neighborhood over a mile from our house. She had almost been hit by a car, so they picked her up and took her to the shelter. It is hard to describe how excited our kids were to know that Zoe was safe. Not only were our kids excited, but it seemed like the entire neighborhood was excited. All day we had  people coming up to us asking if we had found Zoe. I had no idea how many people were concerned about our dog. 

Through the experience of looking for Zoe, God reminded our family of several truths. We were confronted face to face with God's heart for the lost and His joy when the lost are found. God loves a good rescue mission. We were also reminded of the profound impact of kindness and community. It was incredibly moving to see so many people join in the search. We were the recipients of the kindness of friends and strangers. Our family will not forget how much it meant for others to join in the search, and I am willing to bet that the next time someone asks if we have seen a lost dog we will drop what we are doing and join in the search. Finally, as a church planter, I was inspired by this event. This was an incredible picture of what God has called us to be as the church. We are brought together in community to join in God's kingdom mission, "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." Luke 19:10