A Good Samaritan Tale (or Tail)

We found this dog wandering our neighborhood last Sunday. I had seen him earlier in the week and realized he was either lost or abandoned. When we got home from church and he was heading out of our front yard, I called, "Here, boy!" and he came bounding toward me with his tail wagging.

He was quite thin, so we put him in the back yard and for a week we have been fattening him up. Every day he wrapped himself a little tighter around my heart strings. I tried desperately to find his home, but to no avail.

Yesterday, I was thinking about what name to give him. The temperature was supposed to drop to 30 degrees and I was going to bring him inside, give him a bath, and make him a part of our family of pets--a dog, a cat and a bird.

Little did I know that he had other ideas. When I arrived at home last night, he was gone. I will always wonder where he went, how he is, if he's warm and fed, and if he found his home.

It's a Good Samaritan tale of sorts. If I had left him running loose, was I doing my duty to protect God's creatures? I know the Good Samaritan story from the Bible, Luke 10:29-37 is about people, but for this one week, I think it was about this dog. I could have easily passed him by or called the Animal Shelter to pick him up (and I nearly did this, but my Grandson wouldn't hear of it!).

I learned that it's not always easy to do the right thing, but in the end it feels so good. I will miss this sweet black dog. I hope he found his way home.

Praying Girl