Rescued

Dear Old Friend,

Dr. Donald Barnhouse once said that all of life illustrates Bible doctrine.  As you know, we have a rescue dog named Quiz.  He spent most of his first year on the streets.  I don’t know why his owners kicked him out, but they weren’t interested in having him back, so a rescue organization took him in and put his picture on their website.  He is part beagle, part we’re-not-sure, but the minute my husband saw that photo he knew he was “the one”. 

The organization’s home base was about an hour from our house, so we went on a field trip to meet Quiz. I took a quick look at him and then wandered off to see a few other dogs I had viewed on the website.  But my husband stayed with Quiz who was in a fenced area with another dog who was very friendly and eager to vie for my husband’s attention. Quiz, however, hung back and whenever my husband tried to approach him he moved away. 

We were avid viewers of Ceasar Millan’s show The Dog Whisperer, so my husband had a few tricks up his sleeve.  He turned away from Quiz and pretended to pay attention to the other dog.  He could see out of the corner of his eye that Quiz was watching him pet and talk to the friendly dog and that Quiz was looking longingly at them and quivering.  My husband interpreted this to mean that Quiz very much wanted to join in, but was too afraid; so he sat down on the ground and continued to play with the other dog and gradually Quiz approached, still shaking. 

Finally, Quiz was near enough for my husband to slowly reach out his hand to be sniffed, and then he was able to pet him.  They sat together for awhile and by the time I came back my husband announced he had made up his mind that Quiz would be ours.  Once I heard the story of how he wooed Quiz to overcome his fear and how desperately Quiz wanted to be loved, I agreed.  

Here is a picture taken when he first arrived:

Today I was thinking about how we would typically expect God to be like Quiz's original owners who kicked him out of the house presumably for one too many rule infractions.  But, because Jesus came and kept all the rules for us, God actually relates to us in the same way my husband did to Quiz. 

When we’ve wandered around the streets of life and have been kicked and wounded to the point where we are afraid to trust that true love even exists, much less that it could ever be ours, God sees us quivering and alone and he gently woos us to him, meeting us right where we are, offering us his grace and love. Then he rescues us and adopts us so that he can begin the process of relieving our fears and healing our broken hearts. I’m so grateful to be a ‘rescue human’!  

I have some more things to share about Quiz.  Maybe next time.

Love Always,

Bonnie