Lost and Found

Dear Teacher,  

Last week, Carmen, a 29-year old volunteer for Blue Ridge Animal Rescue did what she'd done for the past two years,  spending every Tuesday and Saturday morning helping dogs find comfort, safety, and — hopefully — their way back home.  In the Asheville-based rescue sat a four-year-old yellow Labrador Retriever that the staff temporarily named Biscuit.  

Nine days earlier, Biscuit had arrived at the shelter as a stray.
No collar.
No tags.
No owner information.
Just a quiet, gentle Lab with tired eyes and the kind of calm personality that instantly made everyone fall in love with him.

That morning, Carmen was doing routine intake checks on new arrivals. Nothing unusual. Just another standard microchip scan — something she’s done hundreds of times before.  She pressed the scanner gently against the back of Biscuit’s neck.

Beep.
She glanced down at the screen…
…and completely froze.
Both hands immediately covered her mouth.

Because Carmen recognized the chip registration the second it appeared.

Eighteen months earlier, a family from Knoxville, Tennessee had reported their yellow Labrador Retriever missing during a cross-state move. His name was Marco.  The Garcias had searched for him across multiple states, posting flyers, contacting shelters, updating their phone number twice in the lost pet database just in case someone might eventually find him.

They never gave up hope.

Then, last Tuesday, when another staff member called the number connected to the chip, a man answered almost instantly.   When staff explained why they were calling, the line went silent.  Then they heard him yell across the house, “THEY FOUND MARCO!”  Immediately the Garcia family drove from Knoxville to Asheville to bring their boy home.

Carmen later said, “I scan microchips every week, and most of the time nothing comes up. But when I saw that registration and realized this Lab had a family who’d been missing him for a year and a half… I just lost it. They never stopped looking for him.”

Sometimes the smallest moment changes everything.

Just a routine scan.
One quiet beep.
And suddenly, an eighteen-month search was finally over.

And you, Teacher, there in your classroom, have faithfully showed up and done your job, too.  Maybe it's been a routine scan of each student's face during worship, or one quiet prayer prayed over a fragile student.  Perhaps you've known of the spiritual journey of a prodigal pupil, or the distance separating a kid from their heavenly Father.  Yet, you just kept doing -- doing your job in helping students find comfort, safety, and -- hopefully -- their way Home.  And every once in a while, there's registration and realization that the One they've been so far away from has been looking for them the whole time!  

He never stops looking.  He never ends his searching.  And sometimes, the smallest moments in your day-in-day-out routine are the ones that lead a student back home!

Day-in-day-out with you,
Mindy
Christian Educator & School Counselor