Descent Into Hell

Last night, I watched Pit Bulls and Parolees, a program on Animal Planet that I have not seen before.  I wound up watching it because it was set in New Orleans, and I recognized scenes from my home town.  The "characters" were all "rough," covered with tatoos, earrings, nose rings, and lip studs -- not the kind of people I usually associate with.  And yet....they were full of mercy and compassion for lost and stray pit bulls -- those who were just waiting to be caught by evil men who wanted to use them as 'bait' for training fighting pit bulls.

The key players in this drama are prison parolees and the founders of Villalobos (literally, "the home of wolves.)  People who come out of prison have no jobs, no place to live, and no community to welcome them.  But Villalobos takes them on as workers in a dangerous occupation -- rescuing abandoned pit bulls.  In this job that no one else wants, the parolees learn a useful occupation and are motivated not by greed, or power over others, or advancing their own cause -- but by compassion for helpless creatures who cannot help themselves.

In last night's episode, Villalobos had received a phone call that there was a mama dog with five pups living under an abandoned house in the St. Roch neighborhood.  As the dogs emerged from under the house, there were obviously teens across the street waiting to capture them and sell them to the pit bull fighters.  The team went into action to rescue the dogs, an effort that took about 10 people and several days.

First, they had to get a fence company to donate and install a temporary fence around the entire house.  Once that was in place, the team began to crawl under the house in 100 degree heat to try to flush out the dogs from their place of security.  Unfortunately, parts of the floor had caved in, and the dogs were able to crawl up into the house as well as underneath it.  That meant that some of the team members had to enter a boarded - up, dark, Katrina flooded, smelly house -- still in 100 degree heat -- to find the dogs.  All the while, mama dog was fiercely protecting her pups and trying to bite the rescuers.  This program was more suspenseful than any NCIS I had seen -- and it was real.

Waking up this morning, I suddenly realized that this is exactly what Jesus has done for us: He descended into the 'hell' of our existence to keep us from being destroyed by those who seek our souls as 'bait.'  And he pursues us in all of our hiding places until he brings us safely into a new home.  To do that, He enlists a team of former prisoners, who themselves are 'rescued' by being part of His team and learning His compassion for the lost. 

Francis Thompson wrote The Hound of Heaven many years ago, in which he described the Great Pursuer:

I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;

I fled Him, down the arches of the years;

I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways

of my own mind; and in the midst of tears

I hid from Him, and under running laughter.

 

Thompson's poem is long and not easy-- it takes prayerful meditation and slow digestion to get it, but it is worth the reading.  For "The Hound of heaven" will not cease His pursuit until we surrender.  He dare not, for the day He stops pursuing us, our enemies will have won.