Sam is Home

I received a call today that our lost dog had been found. He was not really so much lost as had run away from home. You see, this dog, Sam, was a stray for the first two years of its life and we were only just beginning to “convince” him of how good life could be with a home. He never quite bonded completely when an opportune moment presented itself for him to get away. He had been circling our house and the neighborhood for five days as if he knew there was a safe home for him there somewhere. Once he was away the “call of the wild” seemed harder to resist for him than the home that could protect him. Even though we were only trying to help him he would not allow us to come close to him despite various attempts and close encounters.

As my wife, Alex, and I were driving around looking for him, we were reminded of an analogy used by Lee Strobel in his book “A Case for Faith;” During a discussion with a non-believer Lee tried to explain how we as humans can sometimes not see the big picture; that God has a loving plan for each of us despite the current hardships we may be experiencing. He describes a scene including a bear and a hunter. The bear has been caught in a trap and the hunter is trying to help set the bear free. The bear does not understand and so is aggressive towards the hunter. The hunter must subdue the bear in order to help it out of the trap and moreover has to push the bear further into the trap in order for the trap to release the bear. Lee draws the comparison to how even the difficulties in our lives have purpose under God’s master plan. We, like the bear cannot always see the bigger picture of His grace surrounding the events of our lives. Just like the bear in Lee’s story, my wife and I knew our new dog misunderstood why we were chasing him and was unable to know our good intentions.

Sam has made me reflect on my own naivety in the past. How many times did I “circle the house” while God called for me? Why was my “call of the wild” so convincing for so long? What did it take for me to realize how good life can be when you live content by His plan?

Fortunately for me and Sam, we have both made it home.