This morning, I'm happily roosting at my corner table at Harry Goeman's, working on a project that is long overdue, and waiting (endlessly) for video footage of the kiddos to download, so that I can send it off to a university in England for them to do something fancy with, that I' don't fully understand. Goeman's is the local garden center/coffee shop right outside the entrance to Masiphumelele , and it serves as a work and meeting space for every ministry and NGO in Masi, due to its' proximity to the township. I come here often enough that Nick, the owner, actually kicks people out of my "office", whenever I come in. This morning, I'm enjoying watching the cold and dreary rain OUTSIDE while I'm warm and cozy by the fire INSIDE! And for absolutely no good reason, I've been mulling over the verse about "Be on the lookout - for you may be entertaining angels". And (still waiting for my videos to download), THAT has got me to remembering a time that I am absolutely certain that God sent an angel to our family on a rescue mission.
Right before my Mom died, all my sisters and I were taking turns staying with her at the hospital and we were exhausted - no one more so than my sister Terry, who had 5 kids at home and was trying to be all things to all people and all places at one time. In the midst of this, the dog belonging to my youngest nephew, Peter, disappeared. Pippin is no ordinary dog. Like his namesake in Lord of the Rings, he is a faithful and constant friend to Pete, who has more hurdles to overcome than most kids. Pippin's disappearance was catastrophic - but there wasn't time to scour the neighborhood and the south side of Tulsa looking for him. To make matters worse, it turned bitterly cold the night he disappeared - well below zero - and all of us wondered (but didn't dare give voice to the thought) whether the scrawny little dog would survive in the frigid temperatures.
I put up signs with my brother-in-laws cell phone number on the main road past Terry and Mark's house, but no calls came. So we prayed. Not "God if you're there, please help us find Pete's dog" - but "God - you here. And your word says that you care about the things that concern us. And though a lost dog might not seem like the end of the world to most people, you know that this is more than this 9 year old child of yours can bear. You are the expert at bringing back lost sheep, Lord. Bring back this lost dog!"
Forty -eight hours went by. We sat with my Mom and prayed for her as she travelled past these shadow-lands. And we prayed for one little dog. On the third day, my sister's cell phone rang. A stranger explained that he had picked up a little dog with no collar, and realizing that the temperature was plummeting, took the dog to a vet to be kenneled. He had driven back through the neighborhood a couple of days later and had seen the signs, and was pretty certain that the dog he had found was Pippin. But by this time, it was Saturday - and the vet's office was closed until Monday, so he made arrangements to meet Terry when the doors opened on Monday morning.
Terry didn't want to get Peter's hopes up, so she went to the office alone. The man was not particularly noteworthy - he explained that he had brought the dog to the kennel, because he couldn't bring the dog to his home. He had paid the vet bill for the weekend AND paid to have Pippin micro-chipped and adamantly refused to allow Terry to reimburse him. He offered no details about his life - didn't even give his name. His only request was that Terry might take a picture of him with Pippin that he could keep. (He had brought along a camera). Terry happily acquiesced and then got caught up in gathering her things and snapping on Pippin's leash. When she turned around to thank the man - he was gone. Taken aback, Terry said to the receptionist, "That was the nicest man I've ever met. Is he a regular client of yours?" The receptionist looked surprised and replied, "I've never seen him before in my life!"
Terry brought Pippin home for an ecstatic reunion with his best friend and I immediately headed to her house to see the prodigal with my own eyes. As Terry began telling me the story, it just seemed stranger and stranger. The guy doesn't leave his name. He takes the dog to a vet miles away when he's not even a client of that vet. My sister can't describe him, accept to say that he was just "generic looking". He could have been 30... or 50. And the strangest part of all was the picture. What kind of normal middle-aged guy brings a camera to the vet so that he can get his picture taken with a puppy? He sounded wacko, and yet Terry said that for some reason it seemed totally appropriate at the time.
I don't know if you've ever experienced a time when you're talking, and (for lack of a better way to explain it), the hair on your neck stands up - and somehow you know that there's more going on around you in that moment than what you can see with your eyes. That's how it felt in Terry's kitchen all of a sudden. At nearly the same time, Terry and I said "the PHONE number". The signs that I had posted had Mark's cell written on them - but the stranger had called Terry's number. And there was absolutely no way that he could have KNOWN that number.
Anyone still reading at this point might be wondering a. if I just have a bizarre dog obsession (the answer is clearly YES) or b. what any of this has to do with angels. But here's the thing - I know, that I know, that I know that our dog-rescuer was a bona-fide angel - sent by a God who cares more than we can imagine for every aspect of our lives. We can trust Him with our heart-aches, with our fears, with our mistakes - with the broken fragments of our lives. He has our number and He knows where we live. He cares about a little boy and his struggles; He cares about his parents who are overwhelmed and stretched in so many ways; He cares about a white, floppy-eared dog; He cares about me.
David, the poet and Psalm writer said "The Lord heard my prayer, and He answered me from His holy hill". That's what I believe happened that chaotic week. Yahweh heard our prayers - and He sent a rescuing angel to pluck a puppy out of harm's way. And when we get to heaven, we're going to see WALLS full of snapshots of all the times angels, seen and unseen, have plucked US out of harm's way.
"And when Elisha woke, surrounded by the forces
of the enemies of God,
He saw the hills aflame with angels on their horses
And in the night my hope lives on."