Where's My Rabbit? by Jan Darnell

He’s gone! Usually sitting on top of our bedroom bookcase, I noticed that the stuffed white rabbit with soft floppy ears and whiskers was missing. “Where is my rabbit?” I yelled in hopes that someone knew of his whereabouts but no one answered. Then after an exhaustive search, someone suggested, “I wonder if it fell into the trash. A trashcan stood near the bookcase and had been emptied that morning.

All of our household trash waited on the curb for pick-up. Did I care enough about my little rabbit enough to dig through seven large bags of trash for it? Or was I willing to part ways…forever! I must admit, I hesitated because I knew of the slime and grime that would be involved in the excavation. Nasty stuff!

But the thoughts of my rabbit being taken to the dump and buried beneath an abyss of garbage got the best of me. I marched to the end of the driveway to methodically dig through the trash bags, one by one. My neighbors began to peek through the windows and doors, wondering if I had lost something really valuable, like my mind.

Where are you Adam? The Lord God came to walk with Adam in the Garden but could not find him. (Gen. 3:8-9) In the effort to restore Adam to that Garden walk, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, humbled Himself to become a man and go through the trash to find us. What if Jesus hadn’t done that! I think we take for granted such a gracious sacrifice on our behalf. Philippians 2:6-8 says it best, He did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant. He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

One of the trash bags had spoiled chicken and rotten potatoes in it so I prayed for the rabbit to be in any of the bags but that one. Yet, not my will but yours Lord! After unsuccessfully locating my rabbit in any of the other six bags, I began to reluctantly pilfer through that last bag. Did I find the rabbit? Yes, but not before absorbing rotten potato goo on my pants and rancid chicken juice spilling all over me. There I stood with my little stuffed rabbit, both of us reeking unpleasantly. The neighbors continued to watch and wonder at my sanity. But I was ecstatic. My rabbit once lost was now found!

Quickly cleaning up the mess and re-bagging the trash, I returned to the house and showered. The sweet smell of victory had replaced the awful stench. Once again my little white rabbit sits on the bookcase, restored to his original place, clean and clearly loved. Only love would propel a righteous God to come into this world to save us from eternal destruction. And love did! For God so loved the world…. (Jn. 3:16)

Jan loves to write Bible studies and devotionals with a passion to know and make known the gospel of Jesus Christ. She is the wife of Barry Darnell a nuclear engineer at Duke Energy and mother of seven.