Who let the dogs out?

Well, actually, my 10 year old son did.

So now they are all off on their bikes (hubby, both boys, and a neighbor boy) trying to catch them.

Huskies are particularly stinky in this respect. They adore being in wide open spaces, and they give us a run for our money, big time, whenever they escape. They don't just run halfway up the block. Today they went 3/4 of a mile straight east, through traffic across a really busy 5 lane street, until hubby finally cornered them in an apartment complex.

There is actually a web page that says "What to do WHEN your Siberian Husky gets loose". Not IF. WHEN.

Anyhow, I think there is a spiritual lesson in this, as I ponder it.

Here's what I see. For a Sibe, being confined goes against their nature. Now, they love us, they adore our company, they have no problem with being part of our family. We feed them and groom them and love them.

However, something in them is activated when they see the opportunity to be free. They can't resist. They can't help themselves. It's a primal instinct, God made them that way. It fulfills their intended purpose in life, to be working dogs, sled dogs, ranging free in the wild. It's their destiny. Still, sled dogs are always under the leadership of someone, who while facilitating their ability to be free, also makes sure there is some direction in where they are going.

So for this breed, when freedom presents itself, they take that opportunity and run with it. They don't look back. They don't stop to think. They don't watch for cars. They aren't afraid of strangers. They don't care if we chase them, they just run faster.

Maybe the same is true of some of us, at least in a spiritual way. We love the church, we love the people, the family, the sense of having a home. But there is some instinct in us, there is this sense of freedom calling us. We don't really understand it or expect it, it lies dormant, waiting for the right moment. Then one day, someone inadvertently leaves the back door open (giving us permission to run) and we just can't help ourselves. We probably don't even think about the right or the wrong of it, or at least not for long. We run.

There are dangers lurking along the way, but somehow we don't have any fear, we trust that we will find our way. We don't like for people to chase us, asking us to "come home". We will run faster.

It's not so much that we are running away from something as it is we just long to be free. We can't ignore or dismiss the longing to experience the wide open spaces of our faith.

I think there are many different "breeds" of people, of Christians. Some are naturally inclined to like organization, they like the relative safety and predictability. Others are more prone to desiring freedom, to wandering and running.

I know some people will see there being a problem in the desire to lead a wandering life of faith. I wonder, maybe God just made us that way, maybe it's part of our purpose, our destiny. We want to work and to serve the other people who live life in the wide open because that is their purpose. There is always the One who is guiding us, even in our freedom, making sure there is some direction in our purpose, but still allowing a wide swath of ground to cover.

Or something like that.