God and the opossum

The other night my dog got into a fight with something under the deck in my backyard. I think it was a opossum, but I'm not totally sure. The whole event was a huge dramatic fiasco. I was frantic, trying to hold back tears and hysteria. I couldn't get Cooper (my dog) to come out from under the deck. I was worried that the evil beast that lurked below would actually kill him. I called my dad and my friend, Lisa. They both, of course, came to my aid. All in all, we had a happy ending. After spraying the hose on the battling duo, we finally managed to coax Cooper back from the jaws of death. He was covered in mud. I was covered in mud. Everything was covered in mud. My tub was covered in mud. It was a groady, nasty mess, but we are all alive and well.

As I replay those moments in my mind, I recall that sick feeling I had in my gut. That frantic state of panic mingled with helplessness that overwhelmed my senses. It reminded me of the very same sick feeling I've had when I have witnessed friends make a choice to live in sin. On a couple of occasions I have had people very close to me make decisions to purposefully engage in ravenous sinful behavior. The exhausting conversations pleading with them to reconsider will be burned onto my heart forever.

It is so painful to sit back and watch someone you love walk into the darkness of sin. Knowing there is nothing you can do, yet dying inside to stop them. And I remember that sick feeling I always get when those situations arise. I wonder how many times God feels that way about His children. How many times have we danced around the flames of sin, squealing with glee as the fire tickles our ankles.

Sometimes it's hard for me to imagine God having real emotion toward me. Despite the numerous examples in scripture that so vividly display the emotions of God spilling out over the earth like a flooded coffee mug, I sometimes fail to make that connection personally. Yet I look at the cross and know that His gut wrenches and His heart aches for each of us. He sees me and you, and He smiles on us and agonizes over us. His heart beats for us like ours do when our loved ones make us proud and when they break our hearts.

One thing I love about God is the way He speaks. I am amazed and often amused when I see His face peeking into my day and using some of the most off the wall stuff to teach me. This time He used a opossum to remind me how connected He is to each of us - how real, involved, attentive and emotional He is in each of our lives. What an awesome, amazing, fun, adventurous, patient, creative, passionate, generous, powerful and loving God we serve!