Another Prodigal Comes Home

I woke up to the sound of a BIG dog barking. Saxon, our Great Pyrenees came up missing, right about the time my daughter got out of jail. He had stopped by only once since then, to find a dry place when it rained a few weeks ago. As soon as it quit raining, he was gone again. How many times are we like that with our Heavenly Father? Just a question.
I went out on the porch just before dawn to investigate the noise, and found him, guarding the property, lying in the place of his birth. He was born on my front porch close to a year ago.
I sat down in my big primitive chair and he walked over to me for a pet, and I rubbed his head & said,'where ya been buddy?' He didn't say much, just laid down at my feet, got comfortable & put his head down. He's a huge white dog, but he looked thin, hungry, dirty,  and had a large number of cockle burrs in his coat. Even though he had been gone for over a month, his food bowl & water were still there on the porch, waiting for him.
I filled the food bowl, and he woofed it down, then drank like he had just returned from a long, dry, exhausting walk & flopped down again at my feet.
As I stroked his huge massive head, I could feel all the tight, matted burrs in his coat and began to remove them, one by one. Some of them having to be cut out. He relaxed, rolled over on his back, with all four legs in the air as if to say, 'get 'em all mama, they hurt'.
Having accomplished the burr removal, I retreated back into the house for a cup of coffee, checked my email & fully expected him to be gone again when I returned to the porch. But, he was still there as the sun came up and completely content to guard the porch from the pesky squirrels who had opportunistically ventured deep into the property since he left, more than a month ago.
With the speed and enthusiasm of a Wimbleton Ball Boy, he chased the squirrels, who were brave enough to venture onto the ground, then returned to the foot of the stairs to keep a look out for any more perpetrators.
So many times when we veer off the road of our walk with God, we feel like we have to start all over. But, the truth is, all we have to do is show up, recognizing that we have transgressed like the prodigal son, and Saxon, hoping to be received with love and acceptance.The prodigal son's father lifted his skirt, which was undignified of a patriarch to do, and ran to meet his son, when he saw the the familiar silhouette on the horizon.
Having used up all of his inheritance, and resorting to living like a slave in a foreign land, not even having slop to eat with the swine, he remembered the provision and great love that he had had in his father's house. Half way expecting to be chased off and beaten like some squatter, he returned again. Not knowing what to expect from his father, since he had squandered every ounce of his inheritance. But, instead of being beaten, his father ran to meet him, kissed him, put a new cloak on his back, a signet ring on his finger that identified him as a son, sacrificed a calf and had the biggest  feast of the year to welcome his son home again. If this is not what you expected from the Father, maybe you should dig a little deeper in to His message of grace. Find this parable of Jesus in Luke 15:11.What are you waiting for?