I’ve written before of our family dog Scout. She’s a mutt, a stray, and a dream. She came to us almost two years ago, wandering around the city as a 7-week-old black ball of fur. She has become a fixture in our neighborhood, loving everyone she meets. She’s been a delight to our family.
Thanksgiving Friday, she left on a trip. We were hiking in some woods near the Neuse River off of Tower Hill Road. She was off the leash, and in a flash, she was off and running, barking her high pitch bark which says, “Dad, I’ve found something, I’m gonna chase it.”
There’s a huge difference between chasing a bunny in our neighborhood and chasing a deer(?) in the woods. The woods extend for hundreds of acres, and are unfamiliar, with no sidewalks leading one home.
So, Scout is still out there, chasing that deer. We called and called. We found a four-wheeler and drove around for miles. We wandered and looked, searched intently and tried every trick we know. I laid down my jacket near the last place we saw her, hoping she would come back to my scent. I took her bowl of food and her bed to a different (covered) place. And, I’ve checked back every day, more than once.
We put up signs in the closest neighborhoods, and contacted the SPCA to get on their Facebook page. As of now, she’s still lost… lost to us, even if she happens to be in someone’s backyard.
I couldn’t think of much else those first 24 hours. I went out to the woods every few hours to call around. Friends did the same. I hardly slept a wink, as every howl of wind made me think of Scout lonely and sad. I got a glimpse of what God must feel about all of us in this world. I couldn’t rest happy at home knowing poor Scout was cold or wet or lost or hungry, and in a very real way, in danger.
Don’t you think that’s exactly how God felt about this world, as we ran off from him chasing after the “scent” of sin, selfishness, and harm? There’s no question, this world is not the way it’s supposed to be. And, that you and I do not do everything we ought to do. We’ve all run off after “scents” or “animals” that God never intended us to.
God wasn’t content to sit in his warm home by the fire while we are out there lost and hurting. So, he got up and left his home, and came to find us. Just like the shepherd who lost one of his hundred sheep, and searched intently for it, as Jesus tells the story. That’s Jesus’ story: he left his home and came out looking for us. That’s what Christmas kicks off: Jesus’ Search-and-Rescue mission.
As far as I know, Scout is still running around lost. How about you? As December unfolds, why not give your life to the Master who has come out to search for you?
The Rev. Jason McKnight is pastor of Grace Fellowship Church in Kinston. Reach him at Jason@gracekinston.org.