The lowly prairie dog is the meerkat of North America. Standing at just over a foot tall, prairie dogs are iconic Americana as they stand on their hindlegs inspecting the surroundings with inquisitive cuteness, gathering in groups, or emerging from their holes. With their stout, compact bodies, short legs, and strong claws designed for digging, they are found throughout the grasslands of North America. There are five species of prairie dog, but the most common is the black-tailed prairie dog, and likely is the one you are picturing as you listen to this description.
Sometimes referred to as “ground squirrels” by locals, prairie dogs are technically considered part of the squirrel family and are named for their warning call, which sounds quite similar to a dog’s bark… and being highly social, prairie dog barks are a common sound amongst their colonies as they warn their fellow prairie pups about predators such as hawks, coyotes, or the endangered black-footed ferret that rely on prairie dogs for their diet.
These highly social and rambunctious varmints gather in prairie dog colonies, also known as towns which can vary greatly in size. Sometimes prairie dog towns are sleepy little municipalities that contain only a hundred or so furry inhabitants… but they can get MUCH larger. The largest recorded prairie dog town was found in Texas – because everything is bigger in Texas. This town was really more like a metropolis – spanning 25,000 square miles and home to several billion prairie dogs. While such massive colonies are no longer common, prairie dogs still form extensive and interconnected communities that can cover acres and acres of land. And that sort of prairie dog town has gotten the attraction of human townships, too.
Prairie dogs are cute, but they can be a nuisance, too. In the open grasslands, they are an important part of the ecosystem – in the middle of urban Colorado – prairie dogs can really tear up a city block. They rip apart sprinkler systems, wander inside buildings, and generally run amok. Which is exactly where a man named Gay Balfour and his septic truck come in.
I’m Scott Beyer and this is the Love Better podcast where we explore the truths and lies about love and more importantly how to turn love into a skill – something we can get better at and hone along the way.
This year, we are learning to love better by exploring the greatest commandment – Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. We’ve looked at the parts of our lives that are typically associated with love – our heart, soul, and mind, but now we need to finish the journey by investigating how to love with all our strength. Weak love isn’t much love at all. Real love is made of sterner stuff, and if we are going to love better, we need to learn how to love with ALL our strength. Today, is the second in a ten-part series on how to have strong love, and today, we are going to consider that real strength goes with you wherever you are.
In 1991, in his fifties, Gay Balfour of Cortez, Colorado was looking for a pathway out of financial ruin. Through a series of unfortunate events, he was in a bad fiscal spot – and as they say, necessity is the mother of invention. Balfour had a dream one night that he was standing in a field holding a thick green hose, sucking prairie dogs out of the ground. While most of us would pass that off as a good example of why late-night snacking can have weird side effects, Mr. Balfour decided to literally pursue his dreams.
He bought a retired septic truck, lined the innards with cushions and pads, and bought a 340 foot long prairie dog diameter hose. From there, he did exactly what you are imagining. He got a contract to humanely remove prairie dogs from local property, fired up his prairie dog vacuum, and started sucking them right out of the ground with a giant thwoop and thump as they zipped through the line and bounced inside his septic tank sized cage. Dizzy, but undamaged, the prairie dogs were now ready for relocation.
I first heard about the system invented by Balfour (a system now replicated all over the country) while on a trip to Oklahoma. The city of Lawton has an overabundance of prairie dogs and they were being vacuumed up and sold to the highest bidder. Turns out one cities nuisance is another town’s treasure. Prairie dogs are relocated to conservation sites, zoos, and even other cities desiring to build tourist attractions around the adorable little critters. Apparently, there is even a booming prairie dog pet business in Japan of all places.
I can’t help but wonder how the prairie dogs feel about all of this relocation. Imagine it from their perspective – one minute you are napping in your happy little burrow, the next you are zipping at 300 mph through a tube to Tokyo. How do those prairie dogs feel about being so suddenly displaced?
Displacement is an odd thing. In one sense, nothing has changed. You are still you and all of your knowledge, experience, and strength is exactly as it was before the change… but in other ways, everything has changed. A loss of job, a move across the country or to a foreign nation, a new adventure, or the grief of loss from a spouse or child – these events become the demarcation points of our life. Before them you were one person – after it, life became something else entirely.
The Bible is full of displaced heroes. From Joseph’s move to Egypt through the deceit of his brothers and subsequent enslavement - to the life altering conversation Saul had with Jesus on the road to Damascus that began his journey as one of the greatest evangelists of all time. Some displacements are involuntary – Joseph didn’t choose Egypt. Some are voluntary – Saul chose to leave all else behind in pursuit of Jesus.
Whether chosen or invoked, when we are displaced, everything changes. There is a form of grief involved in such rapid alteration of our life. Saul didn’t eat or drink for three days as he contemplated the gravity of his conversation with his Lord. Joseph’s journey to Egypt gave him a lot of time to think and adjust. Later on in life, Joseph would name his two sons Manasseh, (which means ‘forget’) and Ephraim (which means ‘fruitful’) because by then he had forgotten the pain of leaving his family and learned to enjoy the fruit his life had born in his new homeland. Joseph eventually found peace with his displaced life, but it took time before he could count the blessings instead of the curses.
Part of learning to love with all our strength is learning to be strong as life changes and to use our strength wherever the Lord wills to put us. In Paul’s letter to the Galatians, he told them, “As we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. (Gal 6:10)
The key word there is ‘opportunity’ – you don’t always get to decide what opportunities you have – you also don’t get to decide what those opportunities look like… you just get to decide what you do with them.
Jesus’ intervention with Saul on the road to Damascus (feel free to read it in detail in Acts chapter 9) was an opportunity to apply his strength to a noble life of truth… but it may have felt more like a gut punch in the moment. Joseph’s enslavement didn’t look like an opportunity, but in the end, he would say to the same brothers that sold him as a slave that “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. (Gen 50:20)
What started out as a curse, eventually was viewed as a blessing. Sometimes, we are the prairie dogs off to worlds unknown.
When the head of the Colorado Department of Agriculture and Animal Protection was asked about how humane septic sucking prairie dog relocation services are his answer was, “From what I saw, they seemed fine -- more dizzy than anything else,” he said. “We have received no complaints. Common sense tells you that there are no easy ways to get a prairie dog out of its hole.”
Why does God displace us? Because there is no easy way to get humans out of their holes, either. Admit it: you like being comfortable. You have a routine you are used to and there is a sense of safety in consistency. We don’t change unless we have to – so sometimes God forces our hand. When a loving God mixes up your life, you can remember that no matter what anyone else meant it for – He means it for good. So learn to look for the good in the displacement. Sure it feels like you’ve been sucked into the darkness, but darkness is exactly what happens right before every sunrise.
Even in grief there is hope – so lean into the change. The 30th Psalm tells us, “Sing praises to the LORD, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name. For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning. (Psa 30:4-5 ESV)
Or maybe your displacement isn’t from God – maybe you recognize that you are too comfortable. Maybe you realize that God has designed you for good works and you want to go find out what those good works are. As Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Eph 2:10 ESV)
There is bravery in extricating yourself from normality in order to be zealous for God. Saul, later known as Paul, was a man zealous for God and when confronted with the truth about Jesus, he radically altered his lifestyle in order to become whatever Jesus wanted him to be. In Paul’s own words – when he realized Jesus was the Son of God this is what he did:
But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith-- that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. (Phl 3:7-11 ESV)
Paul voluntarily left everything behind to become a follower of Jesus – a disciple of the King. Why? Because Paul wanted to love God better. He wanted to love Jesus with all his strength. Paul wanted mighty love, not comfortable commitment.
And maybe that is you. Maybe you have been thinking and praying for doors of opportunity to be opened and for the Lord to direct your steps into whatever adventure and journey He has in mind. You want to walk in the good works He has prepared for you. I guarantee that you will feel like a prairie dog if you choose that path. If you radically embracing service to others through volunteering, if you changing careers to one providing more time for your family, if you relocate to participate in sharing the gospel in foreign lands, if you step out in faith to foster or adopting a child because Jesus loved the least of these, too. Or if you pick up the phone to radically forgive those whom you have harbored a grudge against for far too long – you will feel dizzy with displacement.
Adventure and change take strength – but why not? After all, if we want to love radically, then we need to live radically. Jesus lived an unconventional life – and I can’t think of any displacement we would ever feel that could compare to His displacement. Jesus was in heaven and then came down to earth – talk about change!
But why did He allow Himself to be displaced so radically? Why would Jesus take the prairie dog trip from Paradise to Bethlehem? The Bible tells us why:
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. (Jhn 3:16-17 ESV)
Why did Jesus leave heaven? The answer is love. And if you want to love better, you need to learn the lesson.
Whether involuntary or by leap of faith, we learn to love better when we get out of our prairie dog holes.
Learn to love better. Learn to embrace displacement.
As always, thank you for listening and hopefully we've done something to help make your life a little bit better. If you have a chance to rate, review or share the podcast it would be a blessing. By sharing with others or leaving a review on Apple Podcast or Spotify, you help us reach more people.
Or maybe you have a fun or obscure history account, a feel-good news story, or a riveting scientific fact you think could help us love better. If so, I’d love to hear it! Feel free to email me at scott@biblegrad.com
And if you are ever in the Louisville, KY area, I’d like to invite you to worship with us at the Eastland congregation. We meet for worship every Sunday and have Bible classes for all ages Wednesday’s, too. If you want more information about Eastland, visit us at eastlandchristians.org. Or if you are looking for more tools to enrich your Bible study, visit my personal Bible site, Biblegrad.com, where you can read daily Bible devotionals called Biblebites, take online Bible classes, or find videos that will help you study through the Bible throughout the year.
And until next time, “Remember, you are loved, so go… love better.”
