Blood Soaked Jacket

My dad’s favorite past time undoubtedly was quail hunting.  He shared his passion for hunting with many other fanatics young and old.  However, it was common knowledge that to really hunt birds it took dogs.  Without a dog to share the experience – it just wasn’t bird hunting.  So, we had many bird dogs during my childhood years and while my brother enjoyed the immense pleasure of going on the hunt… my mother received the ultimate gratification of preparing and cooking the quail and,  I got the delightful experience of eating lots of yummy quail and loving on all those bird dogs.

Her name was Ruth and she was my dad’s favorite and most loyal companion of all the dogs.  Ruth was an incredibly smart, petite pointer that consistently fixated on the target and never took her eyes off it.  But one cold fall day my dad had taken some friends along with my brother to his family’s ranch for a hunt.  The home place as we called it was way out in the boonies.  The ranch land had rugged terrain with lots of shinnery and a deep canyon running through it.  It had been a magical day of hunting and watching the dogs point and work together.  The sun was starting to set and another blissful day of hunting had come to an end.  My dad began calling the dogs up for loading.  Dad called for Ruth but she was no where in sight.  He called again and again and then as the sunlight began slipping past the horizon he was forced to make an unbearable decision.  He had to leave without her.  Before leaving, my dad, took off his hunting jacket and laid it on the ground where he had first let the dogs out earlier in the day.  Then they drove away without Ruth.

The next morning after what seemed like an endless night, my dad frantically raced over to the spot where he had left his jacket.  Curled up on that old hunting jacket  was a tiny white ball.  It was Ruth!  She had found her way back to the familiar scent of my dad’s jacket.  Words cannot express the joy my dad experienced after being reunited with his prize dog.  

I am reminded of the parable of the lost sheep in Luke 15:3-7:

 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it."  

God tells us He is most concerned about the one who has wandered away and is lost, distraught, rejected, and without hope.  He meets us in the place to which our sin has brought us.

God has laid down His jacket that allows us to find our way back home to Him and it allows us to feel His love.  Our sins separate us from God and the only way to avoid being separated from Him is to lay in the warmth of the blood soaked jacket that He has left for us through his son Jesus Christ, our Savior.

Is there anything that is keeping you from listening for God’s call for your life?

Thank you God for being our Father, our Shepherd, and our rescuing Angel.

Carla Henson

Tuscola, Texas