Little Miracles
One day last week I was standing outside of a grocery store with Madison, my Squad Leader, and Sam, our house brother while we were gathering food donations for a food bank. As we stood in the brisk cold with our orange volunteer uniforms we joked around and laughed, sharing the joy of the Lord that was keeping us strong and warm. There was a tiny puppy that stumbled upon us while we were out there, all I could see (beyond the dandruff, dirty paws, and the faint aroma of potential street dog) was pure joy within him. He brought us joy with his youthful spirit! We were playing with him, teaching him tricks, and calling him back to us to keep him from playfully nipping at the elderly people walking by. It was quite the eventful morning with our new friend, Scrappy (at one point Madison asks “do you think he has a name?” And I said “Scrappy, come here!” And he ran over! So it stuck).
Later on we decided to get serious and focus on the task at hand and Scrappy eventually got distracted and wandered off. Sam got a message a while later that a friend of his had passed away and they just had the funeral. He communicated this with his broken English and translated the eulogy on Google translate so we could read it too. The verse came to my mind “rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn” and I could tell that this 19 year old who’s so well known and marked by his joy was in a moment of deep, raw mourning. We asked questions about her life and he told us of her love for Jesus, we praised God together for her life and ministry and there was a long silence while he read on and snuck a few silent tears. I wanted to comfort him and really didn’t know how with such a language barrier. I was reminded of the passage in 1 Thessalonians 4 that talks about how as believers we don’t mourn the way the world does, we mourn with hope! I’m not sure if he understood, yet God’s Word was still spoken. I was praying in my head “Lord, I wish I knew what to say or how to help him in this moment!” My heart ached for him. Then I remembered that dog and thought “Man, I wish Scrappy was here to comfort him” and as I was thinking it Sam said aloud “where is Scrappy?” And jokingly I shouted “Scrappy!” Knowing full well the wandering street pup (yes, the ones we’re not supposed to pet 👀) was probably long gone.
BUT THEN we saw him poke out his head from around the corner!! Scrappy comes bounding down the sidewalk, bobbing and weaving in between the legs of pedestrians, and charging straight toward Sam! We both looked at each other and filled with surprise, excitement, and affection for our new friend we start jumping up and down and squealing and shouting Scrappy’s name! Sam got to pet him again and received that comfort that I couldn’t give, the comfort only the Lord could provide! It was a beautiful moment of recognizing when God sees our needs, hears our prayers, and responds! After that Scrappy left and we didn’t see him again. It’s like God sent him back for those brief few minutes just to fill Sam’s heart and show me that He works in little miracles too.
