Dusty and Grace
Two weekends ago, Rachel, the girls, and I went tent camping on Saginaw Bay. It was a very nice weekend. That Friday was Rachel’s birthday. That day, we went to a ropes course in Frankenmuth, MI and rode the zip-lines there.
When we go camping, we take our dog, Dusty, with us. I have written before about Dusty. He is not very useful; we’ve not trained him to do anything. He can catch moles quite well but other than that, he is just fun to have around. The question arose, though, when we went to the ropes course: What do we do with Dusty?
We could not leave him at the campground due to their rules. The other two options were to leave him in the car when we went on the ropes course or tie him up outside. We only had a leash that was 5’ or 6’ long so tying him around a tree was not a good option. We decided to wrap the leash through the door handle of the car. He had plenty of slack to sit in the shade of the car and we had a bowl of water for him. He would be good for two hours.
We had to wait about 30-45 minutes before we could get into the ropes course. During that time, Ana went out to the car to check on Dusty. While she was out there, a police officer drove up and said that someone called the police station to report what we were doing to our dog! He took a look around. Ana told him we were going on the ropes course. The officer said Dusty looked fine and he didn’t know why the person had called. But it scared Ana to death!
We went on the ropes course and we all enjoyed our time up in the trees. When we came back out to the car, about three hours later, Dusty was still fine but there was a note written on a Days Inn notepad underneath our windshield wiper. It said that the writer could not believe that after two hours and a talk with the police that we would still leave our dog in that situation! The handwriting looked feminine and she said that we were not smart and that we did not deserve a dog.
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He has not done one thing over the past seven years we’ve had him to earn anything we’ve given him. In fact, we’ve bought him toys – and he’s torn them up. We’ve bought him blankets – and he’s torn them up. We’ve bought him bedding – and he’s torn them up. Aside from catching a few moles, what has he done to earn the food & water, treats and love he has been given over the past seven years? Absolutely nothing.
Such it is in our relationship with God. When we commit one sin – one sin! – we become a lawbreaker and deserve separation (death) from God for that one sin (James 2:10). But we’ve not committed just one sin. We have committed multiple infractions of the holiness of God – through commission and through omission (Isaiah 30:1). We do not deserve the grace of God in any way.
But God continues to share His grace with us. The epitome of God’s grace is the death, burial, and resurrection of His Son for us. Beyond that fact, every time God issues us a call to repent and turn from our sins, He does so through His grace.
Let us be so thankful to God for His grace and respond to it with humble obedience to every precept He gives. Because He loves us.
–Paul Holland
