Finally At Home!
Our recent six-day trip around the
Canadian side of Lake Huron was enjoyable, with friendly people along the way,
and a great variety of scenery. Everything went smoothly, except for one glitch
at the end of the trip. More on that later!
Last week, the portion of the journey
from Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan to Owen Sound, Ontario was described. Owen Sound is a small, attractive, beach town
located on the enormous Georgian Bay of Lake Huron. From the window in our
hotel room, I was able to view the sunset in the evening and the sunrise over
the water the next morning. Beautiful!
We had planned on going around the
“thumb” of Michigan after staying at Owen Sound, driving to Port Huron, Port
Austin, Bay City and home. It looked like an easy day’s drive; however, when we
reached Port Austin on the tip of the thumb, we decided to save that portion of
the loop for another time, pick up our dog, TJ, and head home. Six days on the
road was enough!
Once we reached the kennel, Al went
into the building to check TJ out, while I positioned his doggie steps under
the door of the middle seat to avoid having to lift him up and put him into the
car. At 13 ½, climbing stairs is harder than it used to be.
However, when an attendant brought
him to the car, he bounded over the steps and onto the seat, totally surprising
me. Before I could do anything, he hopped into the front seat, wagging his tail
frantically.
“My goodness, TJ! Get back here!” It took a
big push to get him back to his proper place. “What has gotten into you?”
Al returned to the car, and I went
into the building, taking with me a collar that had mistakenly been put on TJ.
I showed it to the girl at the front desk. The name “Bruno” was on the dog tag.
“What kind of dog is Bruno anyway?”
“A pit bull?” she guessed,
shrugging her shoulders.
I went back to the car a few
minutes later, where Al was struggling to hold TJ from hopping to the front
seat again. “Help me!” he said.
“Stay back!” I said, trying to block TJ with
my left arm. “Boy, I don’t know what they fed TJ! He sure is excited to see
us!”
When we reached our house, TJ flew
out of the car and raced around the backyard exploring all of the fresh scents.
Al went to pick up a few things from the store, leaving me behind to unpack and
get dinner ready. TJ sure seemed happy to be home!
I followed him as he ran through
the kitchen and down into the basement. TJ normally was deathly afraid of the
basement and refused to get near the stairs. Also, he knew the rule well about
staying out of the kitchen.
This new energy level was making me
a little nervous. How could he have forgotten all of our rules in just six
days? After chasing him upstairs, I took a closer look at him…and suddenly
realized that this was not TJ!
“Uh oh! Are you Bruno?”
His ears perked up and tailed
wagged! How could it be? Same color, same breed…but wrong dog! A call to the
kennel revealed that TJ was fine, safe and still waiting for us to take him
home!
It just goes to show that things
aren’t always as they appear to be! Neither Al nor I could figure out how we
could have missed all of the signs. It never occurred to us that we had the
wrong dog. Next time we’ll look at TJ more closely before bringing him home!
I suppose that can happen in other
areas of our lives as well. What we believe or assume to be true isn’t always
the case. Consider Peter, who even after going into the empty tomb didn’t
understand that Jesus had risen from the dead; and Thomas, who said that he
wouldn’t believe until he had seen the nail marks in His hands, in spite of all
the evidence.
Open our eyes so that we can see
and understand the truth, Lord! In Jesus’ name, Amen.
“Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your
finger here: see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop
doubting and believe.’”
John 20:27 NIV
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