We recently took our big white dog Hektor camping. He is
getting on up there in years and it had been some time since he traveled
anywhere farther than a local walk across the mesa or a stroll along the Rio
Grande.
Hektor was purchased
as a pup, but in many ways I view him as a rescue dog. He was 16 weeks old when
we delivered him from bondage. He was the sole remaining pup from a large
litter. Bred by a hunter with no breeding experience, Hektor was the runt of
his litter and most likely had to hustle for food. He had developed a small
bald spot on his body and his breeder decided that dipping him in gasoline
would alleviate the problem. When my son and I arrived to pick him up he had
been washed spotless clean of the mud that had covered him, the kennel where he
had been living was basically a massive mud puddle where he had been standing
in water a few inches deep. As we talked to the breeders and paid the necessary
monies I observed the children “disciplining” the little pup with a slap across
the face. So needless to say I think if Hektor could speak he would consider
himself to have been rescued.
From the time we got
him, despite a lot of hard work trying to socialize him he has always been my
nervous pup. He worries about breakfast, he worries about dinner, he worries
about new places and new people and he just doesn’t care much for strangers or
strange places.
Observing him over
the course of the three day camping trip I pondered the similarities between
myself and Hektor as compared to myself and God.
Hektor worships me,
he believes that I am, he wants desperately to have total faith and trust in
me. For the most part he does. With coaching I can get him to do new things, go
new places and even allow strangers to examine him and care for him……but he
does not rest in that trust. There is always a little piece of him that doubts.
Will it really be okay? Will I really get my breakfast this morning? Is it
really true that I do not need to fear this new thing? Is it really true that I
do not need to attack this scary thing myself? Can I really rely on her to take
care of me? Can I really rest in her presence assured that no harm will come?
As I pondered these
things, I heard the still small voice in my soul say “yes child, you do have a
lot in common with the big white dog.”
You see, I worship
Jesus Christ, I love Him. Sometimes just thinking about what He has done for me
brings tears to my eyes. I desire to follow Him ANYWHERE, to do ANYTHING that
He asks me to do. I believe that HE IS! He is EVERYTHING! There is nothing
above Him, nothing that comes close to Him. I believe all these things and yet
sometimes I still fret.
It is my desire to
walk with Him, wherever He might take me, be it the normal everyday places that
I am comfortable with, or some new and frightening place to which I have never
been. Yet I expect should that be the call that I will be like my big white
dog, happy to be with Him, excited that He is taking me somewhere, but a little
anxious about where we are going…….do they serve breakfast there?
In all seriousness,
Christ calls us to follow Him, to do so willingly and in full trust of His
ability to provide. Sometimes the places He calls us and the tasks He calls us
to are scary, in some cases even life threatening. But we know, we can have
full assurance that whatever comes, He is right there with us, and He will
provide all that we need.
Hektor had his
anxious moments, those moments when he was not real sure if I had all this, not
real sure that he was safe and could relax, but when he finally decided to
trust me in these things he had peace and was content to just be with us and
relax in our care.
Hektor was blessed
in his journey with me. He got extra breakfast, extra dinner, he hiked at a leisurely
pace in cool mountain air, he slept beside swift flowing mountain creeks, he
got to sleep by my side in the tent and all in all he enjoyed his trip.
Hopefully he learned to trust me just a little more. Hopefully I can learn from him to trust my
Master fully. To have no anxiety about tomorrow, to not worry about what we will eat, or what we will wear, or what choices others we love might be making or not making.
Lord, help me trust
You in all things, still my anxious heart, calm my restless worried spirit.
Help me to rest in the knowledge that wherever I might be led You are right
there beside me, and You are my Rock of refuge, there is nothing that I need
fear.
do not be anxious about anything, but in
everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be
made known to God.
Jesus spoke to the
people once more and said, "I am the light of the world. If you follow me,
you won't have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads
to life."
“The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my
strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and
my high tower.”
“Every word of God is pure: he is a
shield unto them that put their trust in him.”
“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace,
whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.”
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.