By Danny Sampson
“What do you want to pray about tonight, sweetheart?” I asked as I tucked my eight-year-old daughter into bed.
“I want to pray for my Boston,” she said.
You see my daughter, Hannah, wanted a Boston Terrier in the worst way. She shopped the classified ads for months, trying to barter with a breeder. Her currency was an RV rental in exchange for a puppy.
I’m in the RV business, and it was 2010. The country was in a deep recession, and during recessions no one hurts more than an RV dealer. I certainly didn’t want to spend a thousand dollars on a dog.
So my daughter shopped and failed to close a deal with a breeder. She prayed that night for a Boston Terrier, that it would be a pure breed, less than a year old, and healthy. I prayed that it would be potty trained and most important…free.
Three days had passed since that night with Hannah. It was July 5th, 2010, and one of my salespeople named Steve Hermansen showed up to work carrying…that’s right, a young Boston Terrier! He was less than a year old, probably ten months according to our vet. He was a pure breed and potty trained.
While the dawn of realization overtook me, I asked Steve, “Where did you get it?”
“Well,” he said, “this morning when I woke up, he was standing outside my arcadia door looking at me. I don’t even know how he got in my back yard”.
He told me that he’d already gone to the vet to check for a chip and, finding none, he had driven his neighborhood looking for lost dog signs and hanging found-dog signs. As of yet, no one had claimed him. That is, except for Hannah.
I could feel the surge of emotion welling up in me. The hair standing at attention on the back of my neck. I was overcome, as only someone that has witnessed a miracle could understand.
The odds against this happening naturally are astronomical. No, this was Super-Natural. This was the Father showing kindness to a little girl. I felt so honored to be a witness to this most excellent event.
I grew up being taught that God is just waiting with a big stick to smack me with when I screwed up. As an adult, I know this is not true, but still to this day I struggle to remove that impression of Him from my head.
This precious gift from God Himself, to our family, only shows/proves that He is kind. And it proves that He listens to our prayers. For some reason, this time He decided to make a statement, loud and clear.
Of course I told everyone I know this story, and I joked that if they had any prayer requests, they could make an appointment with Hannah.
I wanted to name the dog Dill Weed because he’s so quirky. But my daughter had naming rights and she named him Ollie. Till this day he sleeps with her on her bed, and she adores him.
If anyone were to ask Hannah or Steve about these events, they will retell the story exactly as I have, because it is 100% true.
My wife and I had a serious conversation with Hannah. We encouraged her to Never Forget! Never Forget what God has done here. Don’t ever start thinking this was a coincidence. Remember this for what it is, a Miracle, or as we call it “Hannah’s Miracle”.
