“Have you seen Zuki?” Lyli asked me during our evening rounds to turn on the campus porch lights. Almost everyone is gone for the week on this session’s student-led mission trip, but Lyli and I are holding down the fort here at MOVE along with the Shaw family and the three dogs, Zuki, Snoopy and Chipotle.
“I haven’t seen him since this afternoon” Lyli continued.
“That is strange. He’s usually with the other dogs.” I replied. We whistled and called to no avail.
“Maybe he’s out in the brush chasing some animal.” Lyli suggested.
“Yeah, could be. I’m sure we’ll see him in the morning at feeding time!”
But the next morning, Zuki was still missing, and all our calls brought not even a bark in response.
“Snoopy, Chipotle, where is your friend Zuki?” I asked the other dogs, but they only wagged their tails and looked at us with clueless eyes. We began to fear the worst. The dogs like to chase critters in the woods, and sometimes they come out second best. Snoopy once returned with a nasty gash in his side compliments of a Coatimundi, locally called a Quash, a creature that looks like a cross between a lemur and a raccoon with badger claws.
“There are Jaguars around here too, and they will kill and eat a dog.” Shaw contributed to our worries. Zuki wouldn't be the first MOVE pooch to disappear in these woods.
After breakfast I rode my bike down the back road toward the sugarcane fields, stopping periodically to call for Zuki and listen for a whine or bark. Nothing. Lyli called Keila to give her the news, and she passed the word on to Phoebe, Zuki’s owner. I was sad about Zuki’s disappearance, but resigned myself to what seemed to be a reality I could do nothing about. For some reason I didn’t even think to pray about it, and went about my work, never dreaming that the whole charade could be all my fault.
I was mowing by the library when Shaw approached and asked if I had the key to the print shop and storage unit.
“I think I heard a dog howling from that direction!” he explained.
“Could Zuki be inside?”
“That is possible!” it suddenly dawned on me.
“We had to open both places yesterday afternoon and we went inside to close the window louvers. We never saw Zuki though!” While I went to fetch the key, Shaw waited by the print shop.
“Did you hear anything else?” I asked as I arrived.
“Nope” he replied.
“Maybe he’s not here after all. Zuki! Zuki!” I called. Not a sound.
“I doubt he’s in here” I said as I turned the key. The door was hardly open a crack however when the squirming, wagging Zuki pressed his way out with great glee.
“Zuki, you were in here!” I exclaimed. “Why didn’t you say so, you poor animal!” We praised God that the lost was found and I called Phoebe to give her the good news while Zuki rehydrated and scarfed down his breakfast.
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| Zuki |
It wasn’t until later as I continued my mowing that the Holy Spirit began to hit me with some spiritual applications: How important it is to learn to distrust self! When there’s a problem, the search should always start with me. How often do I fail to even consider the possibility that I have sinned because I trust in my own good intentions and overlook my faults? How many people have been injured or even eternally lost because I was careless, unobservant, or failed to pray when I should have? How many more souls could be rescued if we would only humbly retrace our steps with the realization that if they are lost it is likely our fault? Like Zuki, they may never say so. They may not even realize it themselves. But if they die that won’t make us any less guilty! Lord give me the grace to see my own mistakes! May I never think that feelings of compassion and good will and even participation in the mission of seeking the lost are adequate replacements for earnest prayer and soul searching! As I search my soul, it just may be the means of finding others who have gone missing.
