DETOUR for prayer

By Mark Swinney

I Was Out On Highway 280 in San Mateo, California, in the middle of the day, in the middle of a traffic jam. Behind the wheel of my brand-new Plymouth Arrow—the first new car I'd ever owned—I was on my way to my girlfriend's house to show it to her. Looking way up ahead, I could see cars making a detour around something.

When I finally got to that spot, I saw a big dog, a black Labrador retriever, lying in the middle lane. He had been hit by a car, but I could see he was still alive. The other drivers were slowly steering their cars around him.

During the preceding months, I'd been reading in the Bible about ways that Jesus loved and helped people—even those he didn't really know. I had been wanting more and more to love the way he did, and this looked like an opportunity to do that, even if it was a dog instead of a person. So I stopped, got out of the car, walked over, and picked up that dog.

At that point he apparently wasn't too thrilled with my help—he bit me! It hurt, but didn't break the skin. I just went right on and gently carried him to my car. This dog had never seen me before. All I wanted to do was help him. And I knew it was because he was afraid and hurting that he had bitten me. Sometimes people act that way, too, when they're afraid or hurting. Their "bite" may actually be a call for help. And when you know that, you can pray to be able to show enough of God's grace to love them anyway.

After reading the tag on the dog's collar, I figured out a way to get him back to his family. I put him into my car, and, in just a few minutes, he calmed down. As I drove, I began praying for him. I'd been learning to pray in a more effective way—even to pray for healing—by reading the Bible and Science and Health. I realized that in and of themselves, my own human kindness and care weren't enough to really help this dog. But if I could express God's love to him, that care would be powerful. It would have a healing influence. One of the ideas in Science and Health says, "Christian Science silences human will, quiets fear with Truth and Love, and illustrates the unlabored motion of the divine energy in healing the sick" (p. 445).

When we were almost to our destination, all of a sudden my prayers went from heartfelt compassion to really feeling God's love for the dog. I was loving him so much that I felt as if I were seeing him through God's eyes, so to speak. At that moment, I vividly realized that God, who is divine Love itself, really was the only presence and the only power. And I could see that the only power the dog could come in contact with that day was God. That was the most wonderful feeling. I was so happy when I helped him out of my car, because I could tell that he was going to be OK. And I was OK, too. Praying for the dog had healed the pain I had felt from the bite.

Was it worth it to take the extra time to love this way? Well, I don't have that car or that girlfriend anymore, but the love I felt that day still burns as brightly as ever. I feel it every time I think about it. I'm still learning that when I'm willing to slow down a little and show just a bit more of the Christlike unselfishness that Jesus showed the world, the love I feel will be a blessing to others . . . to anyone. Even to a dog on a freeway.

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Good neighbors in a crisis time

June 7, 2004

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