The Lesson from a Lost Dog

“Have you seen your dog lately?”

I was at church for a class when my husband called to ask about our Miniature Goldendoodle, Jewel.

I replied, “Why? Is she not at home?”

“I’ve looked everywhere. She’s not in the house or yard.”

I raced back to our neighborhood to search for our sweet Jewel. Oblivious to traffic, I worried she made her way to the main drag of our neighborhood. I prayed, “Please protect her, Lord.”

There was no sign of her on the primary street so I entered our subdivision and thought, “If I were a dog, where would I go?”

Jewel loves people, especially children, so I stopped and talked to the kids playing on the street. “Have you seen our dog, Jewel, who looks like a small Golden Retriever?”

“No, but we’ll start calling her name.”
“Jewel, Jewel!” I heard them chant as I drove away.

I then headed to the park in our neighborhood because it would be a fun place for a dog to go. There was a mom there watching her two kids. I asked, “Our dog, Jewel, got out of the yard. Have you seen her anywhere?”

The woman then pulled out her phone and showed me a photo. “Does she look like this?”

It was Jewel!

She made our neighborhood Facebook page. Our dog was famous!

The woman directed me to the family who took her in and Jewel and I were reunited.

I was thankful to find Jewel, but this exercise also made me ponder the way we share Christ with those who are lost.

Do we think, “Where do they like to go?” “What do they like to do?” Do we reach out to the unsaved with love and find common ground first before launching into an invitation?

The Apostle Paul was the best at meeting people where they were. For example, the Greeks were into philosophy and wisdom so when speaking to the church at Corinth, Paul connected with them using terms they could relate to by focusing on “wisdom.” In 1 Corinthians 2, he says, “We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.”

Paul got out of jail at one point because he knew Roman law. When this great evangelist witnessed to the Jews, he used Hebrew Scriptures to make his point.

Just this week, I was working out at the gym and overheard a conversation going on behind me. A woman, who had recently lost her mom was talking to a man on the elliptical machine. He met her where she was by consoling her first, then he began to share with her about eternity. It was fun to be a “fly on the wall” during that conversation.

When speaking about our faith with another, let’s get to know the person first. “Tell me about yourself.” “What do you like to do?” “What’s going on in your life?” And then let the Holy Spirit create an opening to tell them about the hope that is in Jesus Christ.