When I was in Seminary in Fort Worth, my wife and I took a weekend trip to visit one of her Texas cousins. We stayed at the ranch house and for some strange reason slept with our heads at the foot of the bed. Supposedly there was more air moving in the middle of the room back before there was air conditioning in the old ranch house. The tradition continued even when central air and ceiling fans were installed in the new house. So, “when in Rome… sleep at the other end of the bed.” We also weren’t ready for a wakeup call from a cow mooing right next to our window the next morning. While breakfast was being prepared we decided to walk down the dirt and caliche road in front of her house. It was a beautiful sunrise over the ranch. As we walked enjoying the Sun on our faces, we got an eerie feeling of being followed. We turned around to see a Jack Rabbit hopping along behind us. This rabbit was not like the small ones that I grew up with. He was as tall as my knees and his ears even taller. We though it was interesting that this “Jackalope” was not scared of us at all. We chuckled and turned back around to walk and talk some more, thinking this small deer with giant rabbit ears would run off into the field. But no, every few steps we would take this majestic rodent would hop along behind us closing the gap between us with each hop and not turning to the left or the right. Weirdly, as we walked faster this thing did too. “It’s just a harmless little bunny,” echoed in my head as we picked up the pace to a faster walk, but this giant eared, big eyed bunny, with large incisors continued toward us. At this point, I was ready to defend my new bride and turned around to confront this oversized, over-aggressive Thumper. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, because I was unarmed and there were no big rocks to throw or sticks to swing, but I was ready for “hand-to-hare” combat if necessary. Anita, the animal lover said, let's just go to the other side of the road and walk back to the ranch house. So, as we turned around and passed by him on the road, Señor Conejo Macho (Mr. Macho Rabbit) continued his journey straight down the road not bothered by these two city slickers at all. We still laugh about this strange incident. But this brave rabbit had set a determined course and was not going to take a rabbit trail because someone was in his way.
As Joshua was commissioned by God to take the Promised land, God had encouraged him saying, “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do.” (Joshua 1:7 NLT-SE) Sometimes we are lured away from our walk with Jesus to chase rabbits spiritually, but we know The Way, and His name is Jesus. As we follow Him, the other things we are chasing will be revealed as foolishness. But let’s not turn to the right or left and head straight toward God’s plan for us by staying connected to Christ and following Him and He will provide for all we need.
Hang in there people. God is glad to be with us. I’m praying for us all.
