Dog sledding in Alaska

For those that are curious, yes we went dog sledding in Alaska on our recent trip. It was one of the highlights of the trip that included white water river rafting, snorkeling, zip lines, horse rides and helicopters.

There were several things that the dogs brought to mind when we were standing there preparing. I noticed that there were 2 kinds of dogs. The first was a kind of that was really ready to go. They would bark and jump and appeared to be excited. It was really easy for the handler to get them off of their chains and on the dog sled because they wanted to go. When the trip was over they fought and fought not to go back on to their chain that limited their freedom. They would stand on their dog houses and bark when other sleds left or when other dogs got selected instead of them. Once they were on the chain, the handler had to anchor the sled because the dogs would start to run immediately.

The other kind of dog was just laying there in the snow. When the handler came to get the dog, he would stand up and follow, because it was time to go to work. When it was over, they seemed to be happy to go back to their house where it was safe and familiar again.

It wasn’t until a few days later when I was looking at some of the pictures that any of this had any spiritual meaning for me. I attempted to describe myself as a Christian in “dog sled” terms. Was I a dog that was ready to be “unleashed” or one that could not wait to get back the house where it was safe? My next and last Sunday school lesson will be about this if you are interested. It will be titled…Unleashed…I wonder do Angels Yawn?