2014: I decided to go to Istanbul for a photography trip. My classmates and I had to each do a project around a subject we wanted to photograph: mine was around the fish trade in Turkey, another one wanted to chronicle the plight of the Syrians fleeing their land, a third was interested in following police raids, and a fourth focused on capturing scenes of desolation on Princes Island. Usually bustling in the summer, Princes Island in winter (which was the time we were there) is pretty desolate, as no sane tourist would go there. The scenes she captured were lonely scenes, quite atmospheric, and spare.
Towards the end of our trip, she asked me one day if I would want to join her there. I had on previous days spent full days at the fish market and perhaps there might be an alternate scene at Princes Island that fit my theme. So we went.
To get to Princes Island from Istanbul, we took a ferry. As we stepped off the boat, some locals warned us about the stray dogs roaming around town. There was one shaggy, slightly overweight one, who kept hanging around us in particular that we should be careful about, one said. He recently bit someone. Uh uh… that made me wary of the dog. But he kept following us, which made me somewhat nervous.
After we explored the main town, which was pretty small, we decided to go and check out a monastery up the hill. It didn't seem so far from the map. The shaggy dog followed, as did a black mongrel which looked even more menacing. What is going on, I thought! They were wild dogs, and made me nervous.
But as we walked, these two dogs would flank us on both sides, always walking just slightly in front of us, as if protecting us. And as we journeyed on, in this desolate island, I began to be thankful for their presence. For practically two hours, not a single human was in sight … but we would periodically encounter another wild dog in our path, baring its teeth, growling … and appearing like it would pounce. I found myself picking up a rock on the road, ready to throw it at these wild dogs … once, we saw one ahead of us who looked so menacing, we kept backing away, hearts pounding. Our two protective guard dogs meanwhile faced off with them, baring their teeth, while we backed off and detoured via another route to avoid trouble.
Their face-off done, our dogs came back to look for us, and then flanked us again as we proceeded on. Only when we finally descended back to town did the two dogs stand down. The overweight one plopped on the floor like he was totally wiped out from his assignment. Needless to say, I patted him a few times to express thanks for keeping us safe.
I have no doubt looking back, that the heavenly Father sent these two dogs to protect us the whole way. He who is Creator God, and who commands the hosts of heaven, the angelic hosts, the starry hosts, the animal hosts etc, commanded his creatures that day to watch over us. What else could explain the behavior of these two dogs, who like sentries, walked with us the whole way, never behind us, always slightly ahead, always one on each side with us in the middle…
The Great God of the Universe is also Abba Father, Daddy God … who is tender and loving, and who watches over every detail. When I think of this episode, it breaks my heart. Do we trust the Father to take care of every aspect of our lives, even commanding his hosts to participate in helping us? May we come to love the Father and to trust Him to take care of every little detail, because He is good!!
