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It’s Who Owns Us

Several years ago a dog made the headlines in Seattle and captured the hearts of all who sometimes wander.

Zeb somehow managed to negotiate the busy freeway traffic, elude the Washington State Police, and he crossed the longest floating bridge on earth, the “520 Bridge” spanning Lake Washington for almost one and one-half miles. His story sounds like a Far Side Cartoon, but it really happened.

Zeb wasn’t just an ordinary dog. He was an Australian Shepherd, a breed known for their intelligence and loyalty. What was Zeb doing? He was trying to find his way home.

When Zeb’s family went on vacation, they left him with friends in Eastlake, maybe a half mile or so from their Madrona neighborhood near Seattle. Homesick, Zeb decided to go home, which is how he ended up on a major freeway that carries over 100,000 cars daily. Notices quickly went out on social networking sites. Drivers spotted him and carefully slowed down to avoid hitting the errant pooch. People tracked his route and tried to catch him, but he always evaded capture.

Owner Megan Ferestein told the Seattle times, “He sort of vaguely knows the area and I think somehow he just made some bad decisions and ended up in the wrong place. Luckily, he had so many guardian angels on ‘the 520’ who were helping him cross safely, which was just really, well, extraordinary.” She added, “But he should have taken the Arboretum exit, and he missed it.”

From all the social network chatter, the search area was narrowed, and Zeb was eventually found two days later, hiding in Hunt’s Point (on the opposite side of the lake from where he lived). Zeb heard his owner talking on her cell phone, came out of his hiding spot, and did lots of tail wagging and crying and rolling on his back to have his belly rubbed.

Zeb’s caper-filled journey captured my heart. I was amazed that he had the pluck to set out in the first place, having no idea of the eventual outcome. His motivation was simple: something in Zeb told him he needed to go home. 

There’s another pet story from that same vintage. A magazine ad was sponsored by the Humane Society. A photo of a puppy and kitten looking up from the page caught my eye and my heart. But it was the tag line that I’ve never forgotten. “It’s who owns them that makes them important.”

Yes, it is the love that defines who we are and gives us our most significant purpose. Zeb knew who loved him, and he was willing to go through extraordinary means to see them again.

Henri Nouwen once wrote, “It means a gradual process of coming home to where we belong and listening there to the voice, which desires our attention. Home is the place where that first love dwells and speaks gently to us.”

Controversial peace activist, William Sloane Coffin said, “Of God’s love we can say two things: it is poured out universally for everyone from the Pope to the loneliest wino on the planet and secondly, God’s love doesn’t seek value, it creates value. It is not because we have value that we are loved, but because we are loved that we have value.”

Zeb was extremely valuable. So are my cats, and the squirrel I feed every day in the backyard. God gives my friends value because of the way God loves them, but my love gives them additional value, just as they add value to me.  

Nothing will ever confirm our unfathomable value more than that moment when (at last!) we are welcomed into the glorious, loving, and final home of our hearts.

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