Freedom Part 1

during our marriage, michael and i have had several dogs. we love dogs and the joy that they bring to our family. some have been better than others, some have stuck around longer, some shorter durations. but one thing that has been creeping into the pattern has been our dogs running off and getting picked up and spending a day or several days at the pound. now you can imagine for a dog that has been having a hay day, running at will, playing, sniffing new smells where he has never been before, a trip to the pound would not be any fun. all of a sudden the dog is confined in a tiny 3x4 cell with a cold cement floor, and a small bowl of food and water. but the dog isn't alone, there are other dogs there, not that they can play together, but the dog can hear them. barking, usually loudly, at their loss of freedom.

when our beagle ran off the first time we couldn't find her anywhere. i called the pound but she had not been picked up. we knew that being a beagle her nose was leading her astray. beagles have the most sensitive noses of the dog world and they can smell things of interest to them over a mile away! now she may have been having a good time, but we knew she could be in danger of getting run over or sick or any other misfortune. we hoped that she would come home on her own but she didn't. after being missing for two weeks i called the pound again. yes, they had her! she had been there a week. so we know that for the first week of her wanderings she was out and about, maybe taken in by someone by her cute face and puppy loving. but she probably got away from them as well and at some point was picked up by the pound patrol.

she may have enjoyed the fruit of her sin the first week as she was carousing the town and free to do whatever she liked. but as we all know there are consequences and repercussions to our actions. it may look like freedom to run away and do whatever her doggie heart desired, but it was just a precurser to prison. isnt' that what the story of the prodigal son shares? the young man goes away and spends all his time carousing, until he is out of money and out of friends. soon he is in a pig pen, fighting with the pigs for a morsel of food. just as sophie was in the dog pen waiting for redemption, we also can be stuck in our own prison, enduring the consequences of our actions. but the Father is waiting for us, watching the road to catch a glimpse of us returning home.