What the Dog Taught Me...

While deep in thought at the dining room table this morning as I pursed the treasures in God’s Word, I suddenly caught some movement from my peripheral vision emanating from the front storm door.  When I turned to look, I caught a couple of grey blurs out in the street and noticed my 70 lb Aussie mix who was leaping to his feet… and I knew immediately what was going on!  There had to be a dog coming down the street that runs perpendicular to our home.

In this particular case is wasn’t just one dog but two adorable Malamute youngsters who stopped at our property line when they saw Fiver standing at the front door.  Then acting as if life is just one big romp, one of the dogs took a quick peek back at his partner and together they bounded across our grass and leaped right up the porch steps to the front door.  By then I was kneeling next to our dog on the other side of the glass so that I could get a close-up seat to the action, as I knew that Fiver wasn’t going to sit by idly!  To which I was right… As soon as they approached the front door, Fiver got aggressive and lunged at the door…

And I almost fell over backwards laughing as the two younger dogs tucked their tails and ran off the porch, across the lawn and back onto the road, where they stood for a few moments catching their breath.  But Fiver didn’t give them much time to get their bearings as he sounded a couple more of his deep barks and they turned and high-tailed it, running in tandem toward their home at the end of the block!

When I finally stopped laughing enough to gather myself up off the floor (one sure can’t say that life with me is ever boring!), I returned to the dining room and to my Bible study.  I was in the middle of writing down 2 Timothy1:9 when I was distracted with the dogs. 

In this portion of scripture, Paul is instructing his young protégé Timothy by explaining that the God who “has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind,” and to “not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord,” is the same One who has “saved us” and “called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time itself.” (2 Timothy 1:7-9 EMTV)

As I picked up my mechanical pencil and continued writing down the verse, it occurred to me that God had a specific plan and purpose for each one of us that He designed before time ever existed!  Piper often talked about scriptures that referred to God’s knowledge of us before we were in our mother’s womb or during the creation process while we were growing in the womb, so the idea of God knowing us before time existed carried a little extra significance to me.

Fiver’s interactions with the two dogs this morning got me to thinking that he was just doing the job that God planned for him and most other dogs to do… that of protecting their house and their owners.  He was always very protective of Piper whenever the hospice folks came by.  He had to be in the room with them when they assisted Piper and kept a friendly but watchful eye on them!

According to our verse in 2 Timothy 1:9, it’s pretty clear that God has also already thought about the plans and purposes for each of our individual lives.  But where as Fiver simply reacts with the innate instincts that are in his DNA, God has given each of us a free will to hook up with His purposes for us or not!

Since my wife’s passing, I have been more than just a little unsettled with what my future may hold for me.  When she departed this world, suddenly everything that we had ever planned, dreamed and considered together for our future was over!  What do I do now?  Where do I go… Well… I go to Him because the Word says that I still have a calling, that’s not necessarily based on my personal talents, giftings, education or experience, “but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time itself.”

Sounds good right?  But how do I find out what that plan and purpose is and then how do I attain it?  I do it with great diligence by consistently seeking Him in His Word and in prayer… until I get some answers!  And I tell you, that this has NOT be an easy thing for me to do!  In the past, I always had someone (ie; Piper, the kids and/or the congregations we served) that gave me my purpose and ministry in life.  But NOW it is just me!  Maybe it is the way I have been programmed over my adult Christian life, but doing all that just for me sounds a little bit selfish… wouldn’t you think?

I started to get some breakthroughs yesterday in this department though!  The Lord began to teach me about the role of faithfulness in our lives.  He unfolded before me the entire timeline of every ministry position that I was ever offered, every secular job and just about everything else I’ve done over my adult life, including the last ten years and my faithfulness in caring for my wife.  Then He informed me that just because Piper is gone, nothing has changed.  "Now," He said, "it is time to be faithful to you!"

I’ll explain some more about that in our next post, but it surmises to say that faithfulness in doing whatever you do, where ever you go and in the way you stick to the Godly characteristics you carry within yourself as well as with the Word you know and live, is a major key to success in life… and in fulfilling God’s calling for you.

I can look back in life today and see how faithfulness promoted me and also the times that I wasn’t as faithful that led me into difficulty!  What about you?  How faithful are you to those in your life?

Have a great mid-week, and as you do, say with me… “I am expecting to continue to be faithful in every area of my life so that I can be God’s blessing to those that I interact with today.”