'I'm overwhelmed': Saskatoon priest finds lost guitar thanks to power of social media

Mark Kleiner's guitar once was lost. And now, thanks to social media, it's found.

On Friday, the priest at Saskatoon's Christ Church Anglican was performing a sing-along at his daughter's school, armed with his 20-year-old handmade guitar.

As he was loading his one-year-old son into his vehicle after the performance, he forgot to load the instrument. By the time he came back to the school, the guitar was gone.

"This is a very special guitar to me," he said. "A friend of mine in Vancouver spent a year building it for me. It sounds like a harp. It's gorgeous."

Kleiner decided to reach out on social media to find the stolen instrument after searching the school grounds and coming up empty.

It's a treasured item. But just like life itself, it's fleeting.- Mark Kleiner

After spreading the news on Facebook, one of his parishioners spotted the guitar case on a lost-and-found site.

The case and the guitar inside had been abandoned outside a Co-op grocery store several blocks away from the school.

"The axe came back," he said. "Not the very next day."

Kleiner said he's "beyond surprised" that he finally got his guitar or "axe" back.

"I'm overwhelmed by the show of support from the hundreds of people who shared the story and who offered commiseration," he said. "It's just this wonderful chain of love and support. It's really inspiring."

For now, Kleiner said he's playing his guitar, thankful that it's been returned.

"This is my most treasured possession," he said. "But I was really reminded that everything passes away. It's a tool. It's a treasured item. But just like life itself, it's fleeting."