ESCAPE!

A Dogs on Thursday one day late post…….

Mercy escaped last night.

Keith had just gotten home from work and was changing into comfy clothes.

I had just returned home with Sweet Pea after an incredibly busy day and sat down in her rocker to nurse her.

We both suddenly realized that Mercy had not been let out. Keith sprinted downstairs to do so, as we are zealously protective of our freshly refinished floors with respect to doggy business.

He opened the back door and bent down to grab Mercy’s line when RABBITZILLA appeared in the middle of the yard.

I heard some loud barking, followed by silence, and then an “Uh oh, she’s gone.”

SP and I came downstairs to three-stooges-esque activity. I was running one way, Keith was running another, neither of us had shoes on, he was in his “drawers”, I had a baby in my arms.

Our neighbor showed up, breathless and barefoot with a spatula in hand. “Your dog!” Much panting.

“I was grilling steaks,” more panting, “and she ran past me chasing that rabbit! She went through the fence into the thick brush in the park!”

Sweet Pea went into the playpen while I grabbed a bag a treats. I ran into the yard and started calling for Mercy, interspersing her favorite words like “treats” and “chicken” and “go for a walk.” Keith had since gotten dressed and was running to the park.

It seemed like forever before I heard my neighbor yell, “He got her!”

Mercy had eventually given up her pursuit of rabbitzilla and was walking back on the path towards our street (was she coming home?). When she saw Keith, she turned around and started walking the OTHER way, with her tail between her legs and ears back! He commanded her to sit, which she did, and he scooped her up and brought her back home.

Phew!

I was thinking that her turning around and walking away was an illustration of us and God. He wants us to live a life of obedience to him not just for us to follow the rules, but to protect us. We want Mercy to stay in the yard to protect her! When we stray from Him, there are consequences to our actions. Sometimes even when we are confronted with truth we continue to do our own thing or even turn away, but He will scoop us up and bring us back.

What an amazing God.

“If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.” - Matthew 18:12-14

No other words to add

Isaiah 53

1 Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

3 He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4 Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.

6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.

8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
And who can speak of his descendants?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was stricken.

9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

11 After the suffering of his soul,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied ;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,

because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.