The Walk: Run Away Meeko

I met Meeko when he was 6 years old. I started dating his mom in 2012 and he was a jealous little boy. When I would enter her house, Meeko would go sit in the closet until I left. He intentionally chose to avoid contact with me.

Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months, months turned into years and I married Meeko’s mom. I had a new wife and a new adopted fur son. I worked hard over those months to win the love of this little guy. Small dogs do not always learn to love quickly like big dogs do. I think it is because they are tiny and they know that almost everything can hurt them if something goes wrong. Little dogs seem to have an understanding that they need to look out for themselves. They aren’t wrong. Meeko is the size of my foot so almost everything can hurt him. Almost every animal is a natural predator of this tiny guy. I think small dogs know this fact so they don’t always let new people in easily. Long story short, I am an over-the-top dog person. I fought hard for the love of this tiny creature and I eventually won him over. He learned that his new Dad had his back and that there was nothing to fear when I was around.

All of that changed one night. The neighborhood that we lived in shortly after our wedding was one big circle. The circle was about a mile around and people from the neighborhood would use this loop road as a walking track. We were no exception and Meeko loved to go on walks with me. The sun was setting as Meeko and I were halfway around the loop when suddenly Meeko froze in his tracks. I was trying to get back to the house before dark so I urged him on but he was frozen from fear. There was something up ahead that scared him and I could not talk him out of it. I did my best to assure him that he was safe and that nothing was ahead that was beyond my protection.

Although Meeko knew that I always had his back and should have realized that he was safe, he didn’t care about anything that I was saying. He did some sort of moonwalk run and broke free of his collar. I was left holding the leash with his collar attached. My beautiful little boy was now running the direction that we came from at full speed. I immediately began to chase him. I was now shouting, “Meeko, I have you, man. Meeko, stop running. Meeko, turn around. Meeko, come back to me. Meeko, I am bigger than whatever it is that you are afraid of.”

Meeko was blinded by fear and unknowingly running toward the neighborhood retention pond. Beyond the single row of pine trees that surround the pond was a 30 foot drop. A drop that was certain to kill this scared little guy unless he changed course or quit running. To be a dog the size of my foot, Meeko is so fast. He got away from me. My mind immediately started to wander toward the conversation that I was about to have with my new wife. “Babe, you know the dog that you managed to keep alive for 8 years now by yourself? Well, I killed him on a walk.” This was not a good thought for me.

I was so angry. I was mad that Meeko still didn’t trust me after I had spent years trying to convince him that he could. After years of such hard pursuit of this guy that I chose to love even when he didn’t love me, I was angry that he would still choose to run away and try to save himself on his own. I finally arrived at the ledge and cringed thinking I was about to see Meeko at the bottom of this cliff. To my surprise, he wasn’t there! I searched the surrounding area. My eye caught, at the edge of the cliff, a little shivering, scared dog. Meeko was hunched down under a low hanging pine tree limb. The limb was low enough that he felt safe but high enough where anyone and anything that he was afraid of would have seen him. It was like when kids cover their eyes and immediately think that they’re invisible.

Immediately my heart turned from anger to pure joy that I had found him. I ran to him as he scooted toward me, still shivering. In that moment where my mind and my anger said to punish him, I just wanted to hold him. I just wanted to show him that it was ok now. Something inside me changed in that moment regarding my view of God.

No matter what we do, God has chosen to love us even when we do not love or obey Him. My mind was flooded with a ton of emotions and also memories of things that I have read so many times. In the book of Ephesians, the Bible states that God is rich in mercy and love, even when we are dead in our own sin. In the book of Proverbs, the Bible also states that there is a way that seems right unto a man but, in the end, that way reaches destruction. We are all running toward our own cliff somehow. We all tend to take the way that we make for ourselves. When things get rough, we hide under things that can’t protect us just like Meeko and his spot under the tree branch. When we do it our way, we aren’t safe and we will not make it.

There is good news. God pursues every one of us relentlessly and wants us to know that He is bigger than our problems. He can see up the path farther than we can and He knows what is coming toward us. God reassures us that He holds the future and that He has secured our spot in that future. All He asks is that we stop running, turn around, come back to Him, and trust that He is bigger than our problems and that He is more than capable to hold us and protect us.

I didn’t put Meeko down for the entire walk home that night. As we walked, we passed the thing that spooked him. The fear that started this whole journey was a stray dog that was more than ten times the size of Meeko. As I held him and we passed the other dog, who was barely up to my shin, Meeko seemed to have rest and confidence knowing that he was currently being held and loved on by his own personal giant. Meeko was now safe in the arms of his loving dad and towering over the thing that was previously scary enough to incite panic when he thought he was facing it alone. A wonderful bond was made ironclad that night many years ago. Meeko learned some things about his Dad. Meeko’s Dad learned some things about his Heavenly Dad too.