Flash: The Homeless Donkey Who Taught Me about Life, Faith, and Second Chances
By: Rachel Anne Ridge / Narrated By: Nan McNamara
Length: 7 hrs and 1 min
Finding God, finding spirit, in the least of his creatures
Rachel Ridge and her husband Tom were struggling in a tanking economy, trying to stay afloat and care for their three children, continue their lives on a small acreage of land outside of Dallas, trying to keep on following their passion—a job as freelance artists. Rachel was exhausted, world-weary, impoverished in spirit, and definitely wondering why God was doing such things to them. She needed help, and she needed it NOW.
What she got was a homeless donkey, standing in the middle of the road, doomed to get hit by a car, should SOMEbody not take action. Fortunately for her, for her family, husband Tom is most certainly a man of action, and he decides they can’t just stand by and let this young fellow become a horrible tragedy.
Enter Flash, the greatest and most unexpected gift from God the family’s ever received.
Flash is the first of the two books Rachel Anne Ridge has written (The other is Walking with Henry), but I just happened to read it second, out of sequence. And I’m glad I did. Because, while I truly liked Walking with Henry, that book was pretty heavy-handed with the whole Biblical Scripture thing whereas this book is more about finding God’s lessons through being observant, being appreciative of all that’s around you.
And Flash the donkey happens to be around Rachel and her family. Ridge is an AWEsome writer (Tho’ I haven’t checked out her blog), and she deftly and with great humor and heart, draws connections between what’s going on in her life/her soul and what Flash is doing. She learns a great deal from the earnest and lovable donkey, and it kinda sorta makes ya wanna rush out and find a donkey to take in. Flash is just that amazing.
Ridge manages all this, this getting closer to spirit, to faith, to God, without ever being the slightest bit preachy; rather, you want to grab a Bible and mull over the words she’s quoted, you want to ponder them and see how they relate to your own life, your own longings and failings.
And it’s all rather lovely. The naming of Flash brings to mind God’s name for each of us. We’re not failures, or disappointments; rather we are Precious, we are Loved; we belong.
And there are also instances where Flash does outrageous things like turns down hanging around with docile cows to run with newly arrived horses; Ridge takes that to heart and remembers that when she herself is called upon to leave the staid, the known, to perhaps stretch herself and strive for achieving more, achieving greater than what she’s settled for. She lets go a lot of Fear with that: Running with horses, and ANYthing that smacks of the dismissal of Fear is absolutely wonderful in my book.
There are stories of being of service, as Flash and his donkey brethren have always been. And there are stories of finding all you need, all that is joyful, right near to you—take the opportunity to grab at it all, just as Flash positions himself next to fallen apples, is delighted when his begging gets him some sweet and juicy fruit.
There’s also the story of getting past grief, as Ridge had to get over the death of her not-yet-born son, Colin. But if Flash hasn’t let his own scars and mistreatment get him down, if God can love him, are we all not as truly loved as well; doesn’t God heal all?
This is a wonderful, wonderful book that simply makes you wish to develop your talents, makes you want to see the good in all of creation, makes you want to love with your whole heart. Okay, so maybe I’m not buying into being a service animal/serving others with my whole heart, but at least I’m now rather inspired to infuse what I DO do with a bit more love and appreciation for those I’m taking care of/assisting in my job.
By the way, in my review of Walking with Henry, I expressed my worry that Nan McNamara’s narration wouldn’t be anywhere near as good as the narration of Xe Sands (One of my all time favorite narrators), and at first I thought I was in for a bit of a teacher-speaking-to-little-children type of delivery. I upped my usual x1.25 speed to x1.5, and all turned out superbly. McNamara’s performance was warm and enthusiastic. She managed to make what is essentially a book of thoughts engaging and even actionable.
Seriously, so well-written, so well-narrated, if you read this book, you’ll find yourself crying even a paragraph after you’d been chuckling.
And just tell me if the story of Flash’s longtime enemy, Bo the dog, doesn’t move you to tears. Beautiful story of time that passes all too quickly, of how we don’t manage our lives with the ability to grasp when things are coming to the end, of loving and letting go… Of a donkey who will mourn a gift that came just as the curtains fell.
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