Puppies With Purpose

Isaiah 53:6
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Colossians 1:13-14
For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Discarded!
Abandoned!
Orphaned!
So, I stopped off at my usual gas station in a little town called Blichton, Georgia to fill up with gas on my way to work. As I pulled the nozzle out of the pump and stuck into the gas tank of the Millennium Falcon (my 1999 Toyota Camry), something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. There he was. I don’t know his name! I am not even sure if he was a he or a she but for the sake of time, I won’t go down that rabbit trail. He looked like a beagle, hound dog mix and he had the saddest, puppy dog eyes
This gas station is famous for their breakfast sandwiches, hot coffee and, because it is the gateway to rural country, a convenient place to drop off your unwanted pets. Rover was not the first pet I have seen abandoned at the pumps but there was something different about Rover. He looked so timid and afraid. He looked so sad and alone. It literally broke my heart when our eyes met. I wanted to scoop him up in my arms and rescue him. I wanted to give him a hot meal, a warm bed and a roof over his head.
Why didn’t I bring Rover home that evening, you ask? My heart may have been broken but my head is not. We already foster enough dogs in my house and if one more came to live with us, I would probably be sleeping on the bedroom floor while they are all sleeping in my bed.
So, I finished filling up the car and headed off to work but I still couldn’t get those sad, puppy dog eyes of Rover out of my head. Again, I want to emphasize the fact that although I may be compassionate, I am not stupid. But still, I literally felt tears welling up in my eyes. He looked so abandoned. He looked so orphaned. He looked so discarded.
This is not the way it is supposed to be. Dogs were not born into this world only to be mistreated and abused. Only to be abandoned and orphaned. It was about that time when I heard a gentle whisper in my heart.
Does Father God feel that way about people that have been abandoned and discarded? Does He have compassion on those who have been orphaned? Does He want to rescue those who have been mistreated and abused? Does He want to pay any ransom price for those that have been kidnapped?
He sure does! He feels the same way about all people as I felt about Rover that morning. Only a hundred times more love and compassion than I could ever feel.
You know, God loved the world so much that He sent His one and only Son to rescue us. He could have turned a blind eye to us in our moments of desperation. He could have just left us abandoned and discarded, but that is not why Jesus came. He came to rescue the stray. He came to repair the broken. He came to redeem those that had been sold into bondage. You see the devil tricked us. He promised us a life of fun. A life of freedom. We don’t need anyone, telling us what to do. We don’t need a master controlling our lives.
And then one day, we find ourselves abandoned at a country gas station, alone and afraid, homeless and helpless, abandoned and discarded.
After my experience that morning, I don’t look at strays the same way anymore. They may look dirty, they may be smelly, they may need a bath, and they may even get angry and growl at me sometimes, but it doesn’t make a difference anymore. From now on, whenever I see another person, I will see them as God does, a stray that has been abandoned and discarded and needs to be rescued.
Dear Rescuer of my soul,
Help me to feel what You feel.
Help me to see what You see.
Help me to be filled with your compassion for those that have been abandoned, orphaned and discarded. They don’t need to be judged. They don’t need to be ignored. They just need to be rescued.
I want to feel just like my wife when she sees a stray on the highway. She wants to rescue them all. I want to feel just like my wife when she sees dogs locked up in a kennel. She wants to set them all free. Just like my wife, burden my heart for the stray, the abandoned, the discarded and the ones held in captivity.
AMEN!