Never Alone

Early on Saturday morning a friend sent me a text message that woke me in more ways than one. It began “We are never alone...” I thought it a strange text to send at 6:30 on a precious Saturday morning but within seconds I began to discover its significance as I realized it was an answer to my prayer to wake early and have a time of prayer and meditation with the Lord. The text in its entirety later served as my meditation focus during what proved to be a life-changing, heart melting session with Big Daddy.

This morning I was again reminded that I am never alone. My morning walk was not only delayed due to rain, but also void of my typical “aids” because my cell and mp3 player went on Carol-imposed hiatus (i.e. not charged) at the same time. Nonetheless, I hit the pavement. I was not too far along the road, bemoaning my fate of having to walk “alone” with no human or electronic ‘company’, when I saw a dog barrelling down the road towards me. Imagine my thoughts as this dog came running at me, in what I thought was attack mode. Of course I’m a ‘soldier’ (or rather soulJAH) so I wasn’t about to show any fear to a dog.  Thankfully, as she got closer, I realized I knew this dog and called out her name. She responded with wagging tail and leaps and proceeded to prance alongside me as I walked.

Star, my neighbour’s dog, would run ahead on the road, then run into the sand, dip in the water, run back and prance around me, and then run ahead again. I soon recognized that God had sent me company for my walk and the words of my Saturday morning text came back to me: “We are never alone”. I smiled at the goodness of the Lord to meet my needs in  varied ways and enjoyed my walk with my most unexpected, but super energized and high-spirited partner. When it was time to turn back, I made sure Star was still following along with me. I knew her family doesn’t let her roam the streets so I thought it best to walk her home since she had been so nice to keep my company.

On the walk back Star playfully darted in and out the water, ran through the trees along the beach, darted across the road, and pranced around me with such joy and excitement I almost wanted to dart here and there with her. I watched her and thought how carefree she seemed, almost wild actually. Then it hit me! Star was outwardly displaying my innermost place – that place that is wildly free from care and willing to abandon itself to infectious joy. As Star displayed this morning, there is nothing quite like being bound and then being set free. The way Star enjoyed her freedom really encouraged me to continue to explore and embrace the freedom I have in Christ Jesus. I’m so thankful I got to learn something from a canine today. Balaam had a talking donkey (Numbers 22:28), I got a prancing dog. Praise God!