Don’t Let a Rabbit Cost You Everything

Right about midnight the dogs lit up barking. Now if you’ve kept dogs in kennels very long, you learn there are several different levels of barking. There’s the “I saw something interesting” bark. There’s the “there’s the I smell something somewhere in this county” bark. And then there’s the one that says, “something serious is happening and you better come check on it.”

At first I figured it was the usual. A deer slipping through the yard. Maybe a coon wandering by. Normally they bark a minute or two and settle down. But five minutes went by and they were still carrying on. That’s when I muttered the sentence every dog owner knows by heart: “Well… here we go.”

So I slipped on my shoes and made what I call the Midnight Walk of Aggravation. That slow shuffle out toward the kennels where you keep asking yourself, “Why in the world do I keep doing this?”

When I got there, Gunner and Belle were locked in on something. Both of them staring straight down at the floor of the kennel. Barking, scratching, and nervous. Acting like a chicken at a Southern Baptist convention. Their kennels sit on wooden decks, so I leaned down and shined my phone flashlight underneath.

Sure enough… two little glowing eyes stared back at me. I’m about ninety percent sure it was a rabbit.

Now rabbits have a funny way of stirring up trouble ten times bigger than they are. So I used what I call my loving chastisement voice. The one that says, “You better hush that up.” The dogs quieted down and ran back into their houses. Peace returned to the kingdom. I went back to bed feeling like the alpha male had restored order to the pack.

Or at least that’s what I thought.

The next morning, I stepped outside in the pouring rain headed to work. First thing I noticed was Gunner standing loose outside his kennel half his body sticking outside the deep freezer I store dog food in. It was like he was conducting an inventory check.

That’s when I knew something had gone sideways.

I walked down to the kennel in my good shoes and work clothes with the rain coming down, and what I found looked like a crime scene. Gunner had chewed through welded wire fencing and pulled until he tore a hole big enough to squeeze through. He had destroyed part of the kennel panel, ripped up the underpinning around the kennel, and tore insulation off the dog houses.

All in pursuit of…that rabbit.

I don’t know if he ever caught it. But I do know he wrecked his house, wrecked his kennel, ate three or four pounds of dog food, and cut himself up on the wire trying to get out.

Standing there in the rain I couldn’t help but laugh a little and think,

Sometimes we get our eyes locked on a rabbit in life. Something gets our attention and we just can’t let it go. Something shiny, something tempting. That thing we convince ourselves we just have to have. What starts as curiosity turns into obsession and obsession slowly turns into an idol.

The Bible warns about that very thing.

“You shall have no other gods before me.”

—Exodus 20:3 (ESV)

Anything that captures our heart more than God becomes a little idol sitting on the throne of our life.

Sometimes that rabbit is a relationship. Sometimes it’s money. Sometimes it’s a job, a possession, a phone, a game, or an addiction. It is not necessarily something that is wrong in itself but when it consumes us it becomes wrong. Once your heart locks onto it, you start acting a little crazy and out of the normal trying to get it.

The apostle John gave a simple warning:

20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. 21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols. 1 John 5:20-21 (ESV)

One of the clearest examples in Scripture is Samson. Samson was strong enough to tear a lion apart with his bare hands. But he had a rabbit he could never shake. Lust! The Final one was a woman named Delilah. Samson kept going back to her. He couldn’t let her out of his sight even though she was destroying him.

Judges tells the story, and it’s painful to watch.

“And she said, ‘The Philistines are upon you, Samson!’ And he awoke from his sleep and said, ‘I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.’ But he did not know that the Lord had left him.” Judges 16:20 (ESV)

That rabbit named Delilah cost him everything. It cost him his freedom, his strength, his ministry, and his eyes. Worst of all it cost him relationship, the Lord left him. The Lord pulled back and let Samson live with the consequences of his decisions.

All because he couldn’t turn away from something that had captured his heart.

Standing there looking at Gunner’s wrecked kennel, the lesson felt pretty simple. Gunner had a warm doghouse and a full feeder. A safe kennel where he is well taken care of. Everything he needed was right there in front of him.

But he couldn’t stop chasing the rabbit and that rabbit cost him. It lead him to tear his house apart and cut him up in the process, the flesh works the same way.

14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. James 1:14-15 (ESV)

If we’re not careful, we’ll chase something that looks good in the moment but leaves destruction behind.

So here’s the simple wisdom for the day. Don’t let a rabbit destroy your house, your life, or your witness. Keep your eyes on Christ.

 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.—Hebrews 12:1–2 (ESV)

So you won’t find a rabbit’s foot hanging from my keychain or sitting on my dashboard. I’ve seen what happens when you start chasing rabbits. They don’t bring luck, they bring trouble.