A dog, a broken-hearted wife, a tired husband, concerned son, and the goodness of God – at 4:00am!

Ruthe and I left for Austin, TX, on Sunday, after church – 13 hour drive. We took our little Shitzu, Deere.

Sidebar: We originally had 2 of these puppies, and named them “John” and “Deere.” John was given to a very nice lady, who provided him a good home and lots of love. Deere stayed with us.

About an hour outside Austin, at 1:00am, I became very sleepy and pulled onto the off-ramp of I-35 in order for Ruthe to drive. We both got out of the car, exchanged seats and drove into Austin. At about 1:50am, we arrived at Joey’s apartment.

When we began to unpack, Ruthe said, “where is Deere?” After a long search, we realized she must have jumped out of the car when we exchanged seats. Ruthe broke into tears of grief. “She is gone, dead, how could this happen….”

Joey and I looked at each other and said, “we’ll go look for her.” I doubted we would find her, Ruthe was doubtful – but we prayed and left.

I wasn’t sure what exit ramp we took – after all, I had been very sleepy. We drove back to Temple, Texas, tried every exit ramp and service road – nothing.

At 4:45am, we started back toward Austin. Just south of Temple, I said, “Joey, turn off here.” We exited I35, coasted along the service road, and a blur of white ran out of the field next to the highway. It was Deere!!!

She had waited on a service road along I35 for almost 4 hours!

She was thirsty, scratched up, but OK. I called Ruthe, who had gone to bed in tears, told her, and Joey and I gave thanks to the God who hears the cry of a grieving wife, a tired husband and a concerned son.