God Will Find Us!

Lisa is our dog.  Actually she is my son's dog.  We rescued her when he was ten years old as a birthday present.  On any given day, if the family had to vote on who was going to be off the island and the vote was to choose between me and Lisa.  I'm gone. 

Lisa is now fourteen years old.  Sometimes she does not realize it.  At night, she does.  Almost every night, Lisa needs to get up and go do her business.  As an old man, I fully understand.  However, lately, Lisa has decided that the night time in the back yard is a fun place to explore.  So there I am in the middle of the night, waiting for her to want to come back in.  She is wandering around.  My wife says we need a "doggie door" but I am afraid of what other critters can come in a doggie door.

It is the wandering that gets me.  I am  half asleep wanting to get back to sleep.  I wait and wait.  I call and call.  Finally I get a flashlight and go looking around the back yard.  When Lisa sees the flashlight, she knows she is in trouble.  It's like when I was a little boy when my mother used my entire name to speak to me.  All panic lights went on full alert.

So when Lisa is wandering, I cannot sleep.

Maybe this experience gives me insight into the character of God.  When I am wondering, God does not rest.  God is seeking ways to pull me back into the safe place.  God is calling my name.  God is even searching for me with a flashlight.

I have always chuckled reading the Genesis passage where Adam and Eve cover themselves with those itchy fig leaves and hide from God.  I am sure it was Eve who told Adam, "Shut up, put this one, and come over here with me!  God is coming!"  Adam knew better than to argue.  Then  God asks, "Where are you?"  It reminds me of my parents asking me if I did something as a child.  They knew the answer to the question.  They just wanted to see if I would "fess up."

We wander in so many ways.  We wander in our daily lives giving in to the pressures of this world.  We wander in our play--yielding to those temptation--a little won't hurt me.  We wander in our love searching for a quick passion.  And God patiently looks for us.  God seeks to find us. And God does.

There are consequences to our wanderings on this earth.  However to be found by God is to be loved into eternity.   And we rest in the assurance of this--even in the middle of the night.