Running Towards Danger

I took this artsy desert hiking photo a few minutes before I was certain my life was over. I was blissfully hiking all alone in the desert as I do each morning before spending the day with my folks. It was a cooler morning than the rest of the week had been with dark rain clouds gathering on the horizon. The sun jabbed holes in the cloud cover, so the lighting was eerie and beautiful. Not another creature was stirring for miles upon desolate miles all around me.

UNTIL......

I was about a quarter mile from my sister’s home when a chorus of very loud, very near coyote yips and howls shredded the silence. They sounded like they were right behind me. I could not see any, but it sounded like several animals and they were together and nearby. I have heard coyotes many times in the evenings in the desert. One will howl and another will answer from a distance. This was not like that. This was the sound of several coyotes together. I suspected they had cornered a prey judging from the frenzied chorus. 

I hoped I was not the prey.

I know better than to run from a prey-driven canine. It just encourages them to chase. However, I did not see the coyotes, so I prayed they did not see me and I took off as though my life depended on it. Frankly, that is how I felt: absolutely terror-stricken. People who live in the desert and encounter coyotes regularly may not have been afraid. I was terrified. One coyote I could handle with my walking stick as a weapon. I didn’t think I could take on a pack.

I sprinted as fast as I could go. 

The horrifiying howls intensified. My sister’s house was now in sight. I reached her gate and honestly felt like my heart would burst out of my chest if I didn’t stop running. Since I still did not see the coyotes, I slowed to a trot, sucking in huge gasps of oxygen. My chest hurt. I stumbled into her house.

Now my fear switched to the fact that my heart hurt and I was ready to keel over with a heart attack.  I looked out the window. A car had pulled in front of the house. A woman jumped out and ran down a path to the nearby desert wash towards the coyote howls. Was she crazy??? I figured she had lost a dog or some pet to the pack and was going in to rescue it.  

I didn’t see how the saga played out. My walk was over for the day. I went to shower. When I was done, the car, the woman, and the coyote howls were all gone.

Who runs towards danger? Who knows someone or something is about to die and throws all caution to the wind to rescue those who are perishing? Who risks certain death to save those who cannot save themselves?

I thought of this week when three abortion workers have called or texted to tell me they want OUT of the business. They are soul sick and weary. They wanted out but all felt trapped and powerless. Who could save them?

Jesus, fully man but also fully God, had the power to obliterate all those who clamored for His death. He could have called down lightning, floods, pestilence, or pointed a finger and zapped every one of His executioners. He could have told God He had no interest in paying the penalty for the sins of wretched humanity. He could have hopped off the cross at any moment and refused to die a gruesome death for people who not only were not worthy but were actively working to destroy Him in the midst of His incomprehensible sacrifice.

But He stayed on the cross, he endured the torment, He willingly faced death to save those who could not save themselves. This is what I shared with the abortion workers. They could leave. They could be forgiven. They could find a place of eternal safety.

By His wounds, we are healed.

I pray the same is true of the woman’s dog.

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1 John 1:9

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.