The bad news was brought to me by one of my sons.  I was working in my home office when he walked in and said, “Ah, Dad.  Sorry to bother you, but Sisko isn’t in the yard anymore.” 

My heart dropped.  Sisko is the name of the dog we were keeping for some friends and fellow church members while they were visiting family.  He had just arrived the day before for a week-long stay, and now he was gone.

The only escape point in the yard was a gate twice his height.  We’ve had dogs for years … all of them at least a foot taller than Sisko.  Some of them learned to flip up the gate latch, but none of them had leaped the gate.  Sisko cleared it within 24 hours of his arrival.

My wife and I spotted him briefly at the corner of our front yard.  We called his name, only to watch him disappear.  The family immediately mobilized and dispersed in a desperate search – some on foot, some in vehicles.  We looked for him for hours, crisscrossing our neighborhood and calling his name, but never saw him again.  We were all heart-sick.

Finally, I had no choice but to inform Sisko’s owners and request a picture of him to post physically and online.  They were traveling, and the last thing I wanted to do was ruin the first day of their vacation.  But they needed to know.

Then I put in motion an extensive prayer army.  I texted my immediate family, and I emailed our congregation, explaining the situation.  (We routinely send out prayer requests to our people.)  I asked that everyone pray for Sisko’s safety, and for his safe return.

Settling back at my desk to share Sisko’s picture with our neighborhood online group, I heard some commotion down by our street.  I hurried outside, hoping to get word on our missing dog.  And sure enough, I did! 

It turns out Sisko had been hunkered down in some tall vegetation in a yard a few houses away the entire time.  I had walked right by him on the sidewalk, calling his name, but he had stayed hunkered.  A kind neighbor lady had seen him, was concerned about him, and tried to give him some water.  When she got too close, Sisko bolted. 

That set in motion a chain of events that would be hard to believe if I hadn’t witnessed it myself.

Two young men noticed the dog running and had stopped to ask the neighbor lady about him.  That’s when I arrived.  I explained that we were watching the dog for friends, but he jumped our gate. 

Meanwhile a man driving by saw all the commotion and asked if we were missing a dog.  “Yes!” I replied.  He described the dog he had just seen.  “That’s him!” I confirmed. 

“I just saw him two blocks North of here,” we were told.  (Not good; that’s busy 48^th Street!)

At that moment another man walked around the nearest block corner and asked if we were searching for a dog.  “Yes!”  He gave us Sisko’s latest coordinates.  He had reversed course and was now a block due East of us but moving to the South.  The two young men hurried after him in their car, located him and faithfully followed him at a distance for the rest of the way.

I quickly recruited my two sons to go after Sisko on foot while I jumped in my truck to attempt to head him off.  Now our runaway was running West.  We spotted him as he crossed our street a block away, the young men carefully tailing him in their vehicle.  But that meant Sisko was heading for the heavily trafficked M Street!  Please, Lord, keep him safe!  I sped down a street paralleling his path and reached M Street just in time to see Sisko dash across, a black and white blur a block over, vehicles speeding past him in both lanes.

I swung left unto M Street and then a block down I turned right.  Several blocks ahead of me was Sisko, trotting down the sidewalk, and the two young men trailing him from behind.  I sped down the street, weaving past a car backing out of their driveway, and fell in behind the young men’s car.  They pulled over to let me pass.  

I drew as close as I could to the panting dog, parked and scrambled out of the truck, but Sisko didn’t slow down, even as I called his name and offered treats.  That’s when yet another vehicle got involved.  A woman driving toward us recognized what was going on and offered to assist.  (My sons had been running the whole way and still hadn’t gotten close enough to help.)  So now there were three vehicles on the street, serving to corral Sisko to some degree on the left, houses on the right, and me on the sidewalk behind him. 

But still the dog jogged on, disregarding my frantic calls.  And then the Lord brought the final essential piece into play.  In the yard directly in front of Sisko appeared a large dog, barking vociferously.  And just like that, Sisko did a 180 and trotted back to me.  I made no quick motions; I simply let him circle me a few times before he came close to me and I curled my fingers around his collar.  “Thank you, dear Lord,” I whispered. 

My sons arrived shortly, and clipped his leash onto his collar for the walk back to our yard, where a piece of plywood had already been installed over the gate to keep our high jumping guest on the ground inside the yard.  Meanwhile, I thanked the woman who had appeared so fortuitously, and the young men who had assisted so selflessly.  I told them that they were God-sends … and they were!

Within an hour of putting out the requests for prayers on Sisko’s behalf, he was back in our yard, eagerly lapping up bowls of cool water.  Not only was he back, against all odds, but he was safe, perhaps against greater odds.  (We heard that he nearly got hit a number of times, and I witnessed myself his close calls dashing across M Street.  I am convinced that Sisko had an angel riding on his back that afternoon.)

Of course, we had been praying ever since we noticed our visiting pooch was missing.  But it is no coincidence that everything fell into place after numerous prayers on Sisko’s behalf began arriving at the Lord’s throne. 

I don’t mean to imply in a superstitious sense that once we got enough prayers going, God finally gave in.  Rather, I believe the Lord was using this situation to impress upon many people the effectiveness of prayer.  45 minutes after the prayer requests were made, a “prayer answered!” notice went out.  Remarkable!

Which emphasizes in rather dramatic fashion the power of prayer.

Jesus summarized the blessings of prayer with his famous words from the Sermon on the Mount.  “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened” (Matthew 7:7-8).

Those are some wonderful promises from our Savior!  I always loved this even more expansive promise from the Lord regarding his people: “Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear” (Isaiah 65:24).

All of which goes to show how eager God is to answer our prayers.  So, God’s people, pray!  Pray for other nations and people in crisis.  Pray for our nation.  Pray for our government leaders.  Pray for our service men and women.  Pray for our churches.  Pray for our pastors and teachers.  Pray for our doctors and nurses and first responders.  Pray for healing for the hurting.  Pray for help for the desperate.  Pray for hope for the despondent.  Pray for lost dogs. 

Pray your requests, and then pray words of thanks when the Lord answers those requests.  (We certainly did!)

There are so many people to pray for and things to pray about; the focuses of our prayers are literally limitless and God’s answers always perfect … even if he happens in love and wisdom to answer “No.”  Our Lord knows what is best for us, and always responds accordingly.  (How incredibly comforting this is!)

So remember and rejoice – as demonstrated with Sisko and in so many other situations – prayer is a powerful thing!