Pastor's Note

LOST DOG
September 2nd, 2007

Perhaps you also saw the signs around town. Last week, I was approaching an intersection when I observed a “lost dog” sign plastered to the stop sign. A dog named “Baylor” was lost; the owner was asking for help finding that dog, even offering a reward.
Anyone with even a small heart feels for the person, probably a child, who is desperately looking for a dog that wandered away. I conjured up the image of a child, or an entire family, walking through the neighborhood calling the dog’s name. In the back of their minds is always the fear that the dog is lost forever, gone astray, or injured.
People’s relationships with their pets always interest me. For many, the dog or cat is like part of the family. Friends of mine from out of town wrote two weeks ago to tell me about the way they buried their beloved cat near the rose bush in the back yard.
Certainly, people can go overboard in their commitments to pets. But for most, love of a living animal, a creature of God, is a good thing. (Perhaps that is why people are outraged at the actions of a professional football player executing dogs that lost their dogfights. Betting on the fights is bad enough in itself!)
Now here is the challenge. Can we apply that same love and concern for all human beings? Without a doubt, many people do help look for lost children. But there are other ways of being lost. Some kids just ‘don’t fit in.’ Others are overlooked or ignored. And then there are those whose skills and talents are limited. That’s true for adults, too. They are lost in a different way.
The earliest painting of Jesus can be found in the catacombs under Rome. It is of a Roman-toga-wearing Jesus with a sheep on his shoulders – the good shepherd. The early Christians knew that that meant more than simply that Jesus loved animals. He looks for us, too, and wants us to do the same.