Dog Sledding
For almost two weeks now we have been learning about and watching the Iditarod dog sled race which takes part in Alaska. It’s been really amazing watching this 1150 mile race of endurance across the Alaskan wilderness. One thing which has really been eye opening is the relationship which the musher has with his/her dog team. For the first half of the race the team seem to be really getting to know and understand each other. We’ve seen mushers strapping themselves to their sleds along with their dogs in order to get through a snow storm or just to get the rhythm and momentum going. Then somewhere along the race something clicks and the whole mood changes. The relationship between the dogs and between the dogs and musher reaches a new level. There seems to be a deeper connection between all. The musher is relying on his/her team to get him/her to the finish line in Nome. The dogs are relying on the musher to give them rest, provide their food, to be a vet, to encourage and hug them. We watched the winner, Lance Mackey, coming into Nome live on the internet this morning. Just at the edge of the town, before all of the hype, he stopped his sled. He then went to each dog and praised it and gave it a hug. Then they continued knowing they had completed a job well done, although by no means easy.
Why am I writing about this? I’m not really sure to be honest. I’ve been thinking about what the musher and dogs can teach us as Christians. Maybe God is our musher and when we are in the rhythm with him things tick along and we work well together, intuitively? Sometimes though God needs to tie himself to the sled with us in order to get on the right trail? Maybe we can be taught about Christian relationships and community through this? It has been a joy to watch this race full of highs and lows.
Even the end of the race is nice. The last person in gets the red lantern award, which basically symbolises that they were last, but they persevered and finished the journey and should be very proud of that. If you want to look and see what I’m on about then go to the Iditarod website.
Any thoughts will be good.
christian relationships, iditarod dog sled race, lance mackey, musherabout
Posted on March 12, 2008
Posted by lynhallewell
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We used to have two huskies…now we only have one because our girl went on to train on an Iditarod team – we sold her to a musher because she was more valuable to her as a lead dog than to us as a city dog. She didn’t compete this year…just started training last fall, but maybe next year.
I posted about their pack mentality and the spiritual aspects of the breed – they are pretty keen for wide open spaces, and happen to HATE fences. Hehe.
They are EXTREMELY relational dogs. I have owned a number of breeds, and they are very smart and very loving…but they need a certain amount of freedom to be happy.
Anyhow…off on a tangent there. What was the question?