By Doug Creamer

My sister-in-law loves rabbits. The problem is that she is allergic to them. That does not diminish her love for them. My wife and her sister had rabbits as pets when they were little. Their father built a nice hutch for the rabbits, and they loved playing with them. I have heard many stories over the years about their rabbits.

If my wife and I see a rabbit, we immediately think of her sister. A few months ago there was a beautiful white rabbit hopping around our yard. We knew it was a pet that had escaped and caught it. We put pictures on the community Facebook page and had many people who wanted the bunny. It found a nice home. I wrote about the adventures of that rabbit to my sister-in-law and she loved the stories.

We have several wild rabbits living in the woods who visit our yard. They are allowed to visit as long as they stay out of the vegetable garden. One day I looked out and saw a bunny rolling around in the middle of my garden. I chased him away. Another day I looked out and saw two ears sticking up in the middle of my beans. I hurried out to my garden. I arrived to find a bunny trying to look innocent, but there was a bean leaf hanging out of his mouth.

The bunny antics have continued, with a new white rabbit appearing last week. My neighbor hopes I will adopt it, and I hope she will. Meanwhile the bunny has been entertaining us. We look out for him every day. He has become chummy with the wild bunnies, who seem to have accepted him. I have sent several stories of the bunny antics to my sister-in-law, who has been enjoying the saga.

The new white rabbit has obviously been around people. It will come right up to you. It gets just close enough that you think you might pet him and then he quickly hops away. My neighbor and I have both come within inches of touching the bunny before he scampers away. He doesn’t go far, just enough to be out of reach. If you move towards him he will take a few more hops and look back to see if you are coming.

I have been thinking a lot about this game with the white bunny. He comes close but stays just out of reach. I think that many people are the same way with God. We want to be close to God; in fact, we will run right up to him. Then, when God reaches out for us, we scurry away… not too far, but just out of reach. Why do we do that?

Are we afraid? He is God. He is righteous and holy, and we are not. Maybe we are afraid he might expose something we are trying to keep hidden. Maybe we are afraid that he is going to catch us, only to reject us. Why do we run away?

The answer is not simple. Some people have not grown up with a father, or theirs was abusive. Others grew up with fathers who were physically present but emotionally distant. Some fathers are workaholics and don’t spend time with their kids. Any of these experiences can leave us with a bad image as we try to translate that to our heavenly father. People in these situations believe the lie that their heavenly father is the same way.

Others run away from God because they feel that they are unworthy of his love due to past sins or moral failures in their lives. These people believe the lie that Jesus’ blood is not sufficient for them. It may even be that they can believe that God might forgive them, but they cannot forgive themselves.

The good news is that your heavenly father is not like your earthly father. Your heavenly father loves you unconditionally. There is no sin you have committed or mistake you have made that isn’t covered in the precious blood of Jesus. You are a highly favored child of God if you have accepted Jesus as your savior.

I want to encourage you to stop running away from God and allow him to capture your heart. He knows everything about you and loves you more than any human ever could. If you feel you need forgiveness, just ask, because that work has already been done on the cross. He wants you close to him. Stop resisting and run to him. Let his love fill your heart.

Contact Doug Creamer at PO Box 777, Faith, NC 28041 or doug@dougcreamer.com.