In our efforts to navigate life's difficulties, we often stray from the path into dark and dangerous woods. Sometimes the challenges divert us; other times our desire to avoid difficulties creates the detour. Either way, we stumble into the brambles, where we become bruised and lost.

Worse, in that wilderness we come to feel like fugitives. Confronted by our inability (or unwillingness) to answer God's invitation, we surrender instead to an ancient human urge: we flee further into the shadows. We wish to hide from His gaze, which we fear we cannot endure. Or we seek to escape His calling, which we are convinced we cannot live up to.

Yet the Hound of Heaven, as the poet Francis Thompson once observed, is hot on our heels. Regardless of why we may run, however fast we flee, and no matter how unwanted our straying may make us feel, God remains nearby. His pursuit of us is relentless. His love for us is unquenchable.

Hearken to the Hound's call as you walk in the footsteps of Biblical brothers and sisters. Seek your own response to His eternal invitation as you rediscover the powerful promise of Romans 8:38, 39: "For I am sure that [nothing] will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."