As I came home one afternoon, there in his usual spot in the picture window standing on a footstool was my Shetland sheepdog Mickey. Mickey was about a year old and as yet had lost none of his puppy playfulness. When he saw me he got so excited he spun around in the air a few times.
When I opened the back door, Mickey could hardly wait to get out and greet me. Acting like a jackrabbit with springs in his legs, he jumped three feet into the air and three feet out the door into the backyard. Then I caught the happy, squirming fellow and gave him a big hug.
I knew he needed some exercise after being cooped up all morning by himself, so I decided to take him out for a walk. I also had to get some studying done, so I brought along a textbook.
We walked down the sidewalk to the end of our block, across a street, over a parkway, across train tracks, through some bushes, and into a large field next to a school. Mickey was walking by my side without his leash.
If I sat down on the grass, I knew Mickey would never let me study because he has never had any use for books. So I climbed up to the top of a set of monkey bars where I perched myself, as comfortably as possible, to read my book in peace.
As soon as Mickey saw I meant to sit still, he gleefully kicked his legs like a frisky colt and started running. Around the outskirts of the whole field he ran at full speed. Then he sat down in front of the monkey bars and looked up at me with his bright, eager eyes. He seemed to be expecting something. I thought he wanted me to praise him, so I said, “Mickey, you run beautifully; you run just beautifully.” Then he caught sight of rain that was speeding down the tracks a block away. He looked back at me again. Then he started to run.
I thought he was running around the field again. I never expected what he did next. Instead of rounding the corner and coming back to me, he kept running straight for the train.
I jumped down off the monkey bars and shouted as loudly as I could, “Mickey, stop! Mickey, stop!” He must have heard me, but he chose to keep going.
I ran as fast as I could to the tracks. People in their cars waiting at the crossing saw what was happening and waved frantically, pointing down the tracks. I looked to where they were pointing, and there was Mickey... a way down the tracks running alongside the train, dashing dangerously close to the train and snapping furiously at the wheels!
I couldn’t believe it! My 25-pound dog had challenged a Union Pacific coal train. My heart sank as I saw him snap at the wheels, and I couldn’t bear to think what would happen if he got too close. Frantically I shouted, “Mickey, no! Mickey, come back!” But the noise of the train was too loud for Mickey to hear me.
I ran down the tracks, stumbling over the railroad ties. Running as fast as I could, I was still rapidly losing in the race to keep up with the train and Mickey. They got so far in front of me that finally I lost sight of Mickey. Then I lost sight of the train.
All I could do was to continue walking down the tracks, hoping Mickey would stop his mad chase and come back looking for me. Every few minutes I would stop and call, “Mickey!” in case he had wandered into the surrounding neighborhoods. Whenever I would see an object in the distance beside the tracks I would think, “Could that be Mickey hit by the train and lying there?” As I got closer I discovered that they were only pieces of trash.
As I walked down the tracks, the story of the prodigal son and his father came to my mind. I knew in my heart what the father must have felt like when the son whom he loved took his things and left his father’s house to go into a far country. In my mind’s eye I saw the father standing in his doorway watching his boy leaving home, walking down the lane which led away from his father’s house. How the words must have welled up in the father’s heart, “My son, I love you! Come back to me. Come back,” but he was not able to call them out to his son because he knew his son had made up his mind to leave him.
After walking half an hour down the tracks without seeing any sign of Mickey, I turned around and headed home. Mickey whom I loved was lost, and I didn’t know if I would ever see him again.
God dearly loves you, too. He loves you infinitely more than I loved Mickey or even than the father loved his wandering son. When I called Mickey at first, he chose not to listen and kept chasing the train. God calls us, too, through what we read in the Bible and gospel papers, what we hear in Sunday school, and many other ways. God is calling sinners now to believe on His Son and receive everlasting life and the forgiveness of sins. It was His love for you that brought the Lord Jesus down to die for sins. But if you refuse to answer God’s calling to you, all the love which God has shown to you in giving His Son to die, as far as you are concerned, will be lost love. Lost love — just think about it. You may die unsaved and go to a lost eternity, but you will never die unloved. Oh, come home to God the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ today!
Forlornly I walked home, across the railroad tracks and parkway, across the street and down the sidewalk where a little while earlier I had walked with Mickey. But now Mickey was gone and I walked alone.
When I got home I couldn’t help but glance into the picture window, but there was no Mickey waiting for me. I opened the back door, but there was no happy puppy prancing around to welcome me. I sat down in the kitchen and sighed deeply. How quiet the place was without him.
Then, who do you think sheepishly poked his head around the corner? Yes, Mickey! A lady in her car had found him and brought him home. I looked down at him and I got angry with him for disobeying me, and I felt like punishing him. But at the same time I was terribly glad he was safely home, and I wanted to hug the little dog. I couldn’t make my mind up whether to punish him or hug him, so I did both.
My story had a happy ending, and the story of the prodigal son had a happy ending, too. The son went into a far country and spent all his money on having a good time until his money was gone. All his new friends liked him as long as he had money, but when it was gone, they left him. He finally fell so low that he got a job feeding pigs, and he got so hungry he wanted to eat some of the same food the pigs were eating.
Then he thought about his father’s house and how the servants there had plenty of food while he was starving. So he decided to return home and ask his father if he could become one of his servants.
When he returned home, do you think his father was angry with him? Oh, no. When his father saw him a long way off, he ran out to meet him and hugged him and kissed him. Then he ordered the best robe and shoes and a ring for his son. Then he had a feast prepared, and they all began to be merry.
This story is a picture to us of how God feels when a sinner returns to Him. You don’t need to be afraid God will punish you for your sins, if you accept Jesus Christ as your Saviour. The Bible tells us that on the cross Jesus took the punishment for all the sins of every person who would believe on Him. God is just, and He would not punish twice for the same sin. So no matter how awful your sins are, there will be only joy if you accept the Lord Jesus as your Saviour.
Mickey came home and the prodigal son came home. Won’t you come home to God the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ? When Mickey came home I was a little angry with him, but when a sinner repents and turns to God, joy, only joy, without any feelings of anger are the feelings of God’s heart toward him. “I say unto you, that... joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth.” Luke 15:77I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance. (Luke 15:7).
ML-10/26/1986