so i love the Animal Planet. sue me. 🙂

actually, i ended up watching a special they had on a few days ago. it chronicled some amazing stories of pets that were left beind after hurricate katrina, and how they somehow survived at times weeks without food or water. it showed the pain the owners felt when they were told they had to leave there pets behind.

and it showed in beautiful detail, the joy… the joy of restoration.

i wasnt 5 minutes into the show and i had tears in my eyes.

the first story was told of an an older black man and his terrier. he had spent the first 4 nights after katrina on a highway overpass with his dog and a bunch of other people before finally getting to someplace of relative safety. after all the trauma of seeing his city under 5 feet of water, sleeping on overpasses and being afraid for his life he was then told he couldnt board a bus with his dog.

so he did what he had to do. and left the dog.

weeks later the dog was rescued by volunteers who found this little dog had swum 2 1/2 blocks back to his house… he was alive. shortly thereafter this little dog, and this man were reunited. and i will never forget what i saw.

i watched as a grown man was reunited with a member of his family. i saw the joy in this fathers eyes when he spotted his son. i saw all pretenses of “proper etiquette” be immediately dropped. I heard the passion, the excitement, the love in the fathers voice when he cried out…

“look at my boy!… look at my boy! LOOK AT MY BOY!”

and then i heard something else. i heard the cry of the Fathers heart. i heard it break. and i saw the tears. and i knew the hunger the Father had felt, when they weren’t together. and i saw the Fathers eyes… and i heard the Fathers voice, and i felt the Fathers joy when i realized that this is what happens in heaven every time… every single time, one of the Fathers sons or daughters come home.

look at my boy! LOOK AT MY BOY!!!!

this dog hadn’t been abandoned. this… this son was back home. he was safe. he was cared for. he was secure and never again would he and his Father be apart.

this Father, when he saw His son afar off, stepped out of His house and he ran. he ran to his son…

He ran.

thank you Father, for running.