Our dog Puppa is the nicest little dog... but over the years he's also been quite the rebel. Any chance he gets to sneak out the gate, he's gone. And if you go after him, he just runs. Just when you think you're gonna get him, he takes off again. He used to run to other people who would go after him, but as soon as he figured out that other people return him to us, he quit doing that! He's probably run away at least 10 times per year since we got him in 1999. Yep, he's quite the prodigal dog. Running wild and wastefully throughout the neighborhood, sniffing whatever he can get his nose into.A couple of evenings ago I came home from work and opened up our gate so I could drive my car into the garage. At the same time, inside the house, Puppa was apparently throwing up and so Tracey rushed him to the door so he'd do it outside. When I walked back toward the house, Tracey told me that Puppa had just gotten loose. The temperature was barely above 0, so I told her that Puppa would be back before we knew it. In this weather, he barely even wants to come outside to do his regular 'business,' and when he does, he's outside for less than the time it takes to microwave myself a cup of hot water to make some tea!
Well, a few minutes went by, and no Puppa. I wondered aloud if maybe he had run into the garage while I was closing it, and I just didn't see him, but Tracey said she'd seen him run down the drive toward the street. So I started to get concerned. Like I said, in these temps, he's usually back in no time. So I went down the drive and looked up the street and around the corner, and didn't see him anywhere. It was dark, and because of all the snow we've had, there's lots of ploughed snow piled high on the sides of the streets, so it's hard to see anything.
All we could think of was how cold and scared he must be. Even in the cold weather, for some reason this time around, his instinct was to run away from the place where he was loved, and where he was safe and warm. Eventually Tracey got in the van to go look for him, while I was walking down the street, calling for him. Then, across the street I looked down the sidewalk, and there I could see him, hobbling slowly toward in my direction. At that moment I RAN to him. When I got to him, I could see that his feet were hurting from the coldness of the icy sidewalk, and when I picked him up he was shivering like I never seen him shiver before.
Was Puppa a prodigal? Sure! I can't see it being anything other than a wasteful use of energy to go out sniffing around in such cold weather! Was he stupid? I'd say it was kind of a stupid thing to do! :) Did I care about any of that? Not at all. I just wanted him home safe and sound. So I carried him home, brought him inside and wrapped him up in a warm blanket, petting him and telling him everything was ok now, and telling him there was never a need to run away again, because he has all he needs here at home. Not that he understood a word of what I was saying!
It was at that time that I realized the similarities (sort of) between this episode and the story of the prodigal son. The only character missing was the elder brother, because Mr. Nibbles the hamster was in his cage sleeping and he didn't care that we were throwing a welcome home party for Puppa!
The love of the Father is great. When He saw us far off, He ran to us and brought us home and didn't even make one ounce of a deal about our prodigal living. Instead He was filled with joy and threw royal robes around us and gave us the keys to His mansion, giving us the full benefits of sons. What a wonderful, loving God we have!
