The Runaway Bunny

The only thing my boys love to do more than play in the dirt is to read books. This morning we must have read 15 books in a row while momma was gone. One of the books we read was a classic you may remember, The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown illustrated by Clement Hurd. It's been a while since I've read it last and this morning it took on new meaning. I've learned to expect to find God in unusual places. I try to be sensitive to the fact that He speaks in many ways and often at odd times. This morning it was in a familiar children's book.

Once there was a little bunny who wanted to run away.
So he said to his mother, "I am running away."
"If you run away," said his mother, "I will run after you.
For you are my little bunny."

Tommy Tenney has built an entire ministry around the idea of chasing after God based upon an encounter he had playing with his daughter. Although I've heard him explain it several times, I still don't get it. It's definitely my fault because I've never known a God I had to chase. All my life He's been chasing me, and time after time I run away.

I heard a lot about the thunder and lightning kind of God when I grew up, and I was really scared of Him. Every time I screwed up, I always expected God to punish me for it. Over time warped theology develops into warped psyche. On some level you come to crave guilt and wallow in it. Whenever we discover that God doesn't zap you with lightning, there are two dangerous journeys we are likely to make. We can take easy street casting off all restraint and rejecting authority, or we can embark on a self-induced guilt trip punishing ourselves when others won't. Eventually, even the guilt trip got old, and I got tired of running.

"Shucks," said the little bunny, "I might as well
stay where I am and be your little bunny."
And so he did."Have a carrot," said the mother bunny.

I'm a long way from normal, but I'm learning to let God love me. God won me over. The thunder and lightning stuff didn't phase me. I never found God in that. What blew me away was the relentless love of God for me, a ragamuffin. Every time I stopped running long enough to pay attention, I found God waiting for me, patiently, persistently. I learned just like the runaway bunny that I might as well stay because God has good things for me.

So when I read this story this morning, I saw a snapshot of God. I invite you to read and reflect upon excerpts of this love story as though they came from the mouth of the Shepherd Himself:

"If you become a fish in a trout stream,
I will become a fisherman and I will fish for you."

"If you become a rock on a mountain high above Me,
I will be a mountain climber, and I will climb to where you are."

"If you become a crocus in a hidden garden,
I will be a gardner. And I will find you."

"If you become a bird and fly away from me,
I will be a tree that you come home to."

"If you become a sailboat and sail away from me,
I will become the wind and blow you where I want you to go."

"If you go flying on a flying trapeze,
I will be a tightrope walker, and I will walk across the air to you."

"If you become a little boy and run into the house,
I will become your mother and catch you in my arms and hug you."

This is the way God put it:
"They found grace out in the desert,
these people who survived the killing.
Israel, out looking for a place to rest,
met God out looking for them!"

God told them, "I've never quit loving you and never will.
Expect love, love, and more love!"

~ Jeremiah 31:2,3 The Message