“Where is Fe Fe?” Sonya asked with alarm. It was dark outside when we discovered that our dearly loved, blind and nearly deaf, 16-year-old, four-pound Chihuahua was lost outside in the dark. Armed with flashlights and prayer, we searched for her. Neighbors graciously joined the search, but nowhere could we find her. The neighbor dogs far away could hear our calls and clapping, and their barks echoed across the hills, but there was no response from Fe Fe.

We suspended our search shortly before midnight, and I began again at first light. The deer I met on the hill behind our house could not say if they had seen her. Our son, Luke, joined the search when he awoke and heard the news. Alas, all our efforts to find Fe Fe failed. We have never seen her again. But God comforted us with His Word and with His Spirit. “And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away” (Rev. 21:3, 4).

God is so good at finding the lost! I like how Ellen White put it: “The lesson of persevering faith and labor Christ Himself has taught us. In the parable of the lost sheep He has presented to our imagination no picture of a sorrowful shepherd returning without the sheep. The shepherd’s search ceases not until the lost is brought back to the fold. The woman whose coin is lost searches till she finds it. These parables do not speak of failure but of success and joy in the recovery of the lost. Here is the divine guarantee that not one lost soul is overlooked, not one is left unsuccored. With all our efforts in seeking for the lost, Christ will cooperate” [(Australasian) Union Conference Record, July 1, 1900].

I praise the Lord for the chance to cooperate with Him to bring His message of love to the Palawano. I rejoice in how quickly He is bringing in the funds necessary to follow His command, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15).

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