Fix the Gate

Easter morning was bright, clear and warm, unlike most of these recent days. I sat in the sun watching Cade and Lauren play soccer. My dad came over to visit and we were just enjoying being together. At some point, I’m not even sure how, one of the pickets on our gate broke off. They are pretty easily repaired, but it does take some time. I knew that it was important, because our dog loved to escape out of any free spot available. In fact, large portions of the fence were wrapped in chicken wire to keep that very thing from happening. But on that warm, lazy Sunday morning, I very clearly thought, “I’ll talk to Ryan about that later. The dog won’t figure it out today.”

Now let me remind you about this dog. She’s an English bulldog, who we’ve named “Tank”. We all love her like crazy. We spent more money that any sane person should, but had justified it, by saying that a dog would bring us more happiness than a one time vacation or the like.

The next day when we got home from school and work, the dog was there to greet us with her over exuberant self. But we had places to go, and things to do. So Lauren and I gave her a little pat, and headed back out the door. An hour later, when we returned, she was gone. We searched the neighborhood, we walked the park. We called the neighbors, our friends and even my parents. After hours of searching, we had to admit she was gone. There were lots of tears. Mostly from me and Lauren. There was regret. I should have told Ryan about the fence. Lauren was distraught because she had been irritated by the dog the day before. There was a little fear-“I hope whoever took her is treating her kindly.” We kept hoping and praying. But our dog never returned to us.

Since then, a thought has been running through my mind fairly often. “Fix the Gate.” Obvioiusly, it was too late for the literal gate at my house. But, how many things have I left undone, or unsaid. How many things have I put off for tomorrow, thinking that I still have time.

All of us have gates that need to be mended. It may be a sin left unresolved. It may be that we need to put a little extra effort into our relationships, our jobs or our callings. It may be lessons that needed to be taught to our children or forgiveness that we need to offer our spouse. It may be that we need to spend a little more time playing board games with the kids and a little less time playing solitaire on the computer. It may be that we just need to try a little harder and be a little better. Really, it could be anything.

Believe it or not, this story has a happy ending. Thirteen days after she went missing, Cade got a call from his friend Kenneth. It seems his brother walked out of the house to find a strange little dog on the steps. Kenneth thought it might be our dog so he called Cade. The rest of us were at Syd’s ball game when here came Tank, pulling on her leash dragging Cade along. I’ve never seen such joy (I know, I know, it’s an animal!) as the prodigal dog was reunited with her family. Sydney even ran out of the dugout to roll in the grass with Tank.  As we all knelt in the grass to welcome her home, I had to say a quick prayer of thanksgiving for our own little miracle. 

And let me tell you, we've all been checking the gate...