Running Away – 1st Sunday Devotional

Where can I go from your Spirit?  Where can I flee from your presence?   If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far  side of the sea,  even there your hand will guide me,  your right hand will hold me fast. …Psalm 139:7-10 (NIV)

Do you have a dog? If you do, he is probably a very nicely behaved pooch that pays attention when you tell him something.

I have a dog named Frankie. He’s a fine looking guy with wavy dark fur with  white spot on his chest and the tip of his tail. He had brown legs and some brown on his face. He has soulful eyes. He has plenty of energy. He’s friendly, wouldn’t bite anybody. He might accidentally knock you down when he tries to steal a lick or two just to let you know how much he likes you. I rescued him from a humane shelter wire cage a few months before he turned one. I wanted a dog to go walking with me.

I like to meander around here on the farm to get some exercise. Most dogs love heading out to cover some ground and find new things to sniff. Frankie is no different. He has a clock in his head and is scratching on the door or poking his head into my lap to let me know when it’s time for a walk. All of that is good.

But as sweet as Frankie is, he can be also be a rascal. I have gone walking with many different dogs through the years. I’ve had dogs want to go off tracking down a scent or two. I’ve had dogs get old and have to take shortcuts across the fields while keeping me in sight. But I’ve never had a dog like Frankie to decide willfully to completely leave our path and run to do what he wants instead of staying with me on our walks. At times, he wants more than anything to forget about walking with me and head off to where he knows I don’t want him to go.

So, I have to put him on leash out here on my farm to keep him from running off to whatever seems so tempting in the neighbors’ yards.  It used to be I could let him off leash as soon as we went through the gate into the pasture fields and he would stay with me and Marley while we made our walking rounds through the pasture and around the far hayfield. But lately, he seems to have figured out that he can escape to those tempting, forbidden places from anywhere whenever he is not on leash.

He doesn’t run away every walk, but on too many days, he will suddenly take off in a run heading to temptation land. If I holler at him, which I do, he will look back at me and then run faster. And he can run fast. Faster than I can, for certain. And he’ll be gone to whatever is so wonderfully tempting on the other side of the road. I end up having to hunt him down in somebody else’s yard or field, put him on leash and bring him home. He is never repentant. He always seems to know that no matter how angry I sound or look, I’ll still feed him his dinner and rub his ears.

I read a devotional piece the other day where the person asked the Lord what she could learn from the misbehavior of her pets. That made me wonder the same about Frankie who deserts me on our walks to go off to do what he wants instead of what I want. How many times do I  do the same and run off to whatever I want without considering if it’s the best or right path? While I might not be quite as willful in going my own way, there are times when I forget to pay attention to the Lord’s leadership and blunder along on my own. And just the same as Frankie, when I go that wrong way or do something that I realize is not right, I am blessed that the Lord is still with me and mercifully ready to forgive me when I step back on the right path.

I have about given up on Frankie changing and becoming a more obedient dog that will listen to my commands. That means he will have to spend more time on leash and less with the freedom to explore.  But I can pray that I will be less likely to run off to explore temptations and instead continue to walk with the Lord with the right goals in mind.

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. …2 Timothy 4:7 (New King James)