Chester, Oh Chester!
We have a large Colley, German Shepherd mix, named Chester, nicknamed Woogie. Now there are smart dogs and there are less than smart dogs. Good ol’ Chester is in the latter bunch! But we love him. He tears up the back yard, leaving a mess in his wake, digging deep holes, constantly eating the other two dog’s food, and worst of all…leaving land mines indiscriminately everywhere! Chester, Oh Chester! What am I going to do with you, poor guy?
He was abused by his previous owner before my daughter brought him home. He winces at any loud command, like, “Get out of the house!” So instead of running for dear life, he drops to the floor and squints his eyes. I have no thought of striking him, but that’s his reaction. I just want him out of the house, so I pick him up (no easy task) or drag him out by the collar, while he puts on all four brakes.
I know I sound mean. But the reason I panic is because we tried to house train him when we first got him. What a disaster! He doesn’t even make the slightest attempt to find an out-of-the-way place to leave his stinking present or even to urinate. It’s just: stop in your tracks, and relieve yourself. No warning. No nothing. He’s about as wild as you can get, I suppose.
But he has something going for him. He is super-affectionate. Whenever I’m walking the dogs, while the other two are out on their search and destroy mission to find all the places to mark, Chester comes up to me and leans against my leg, wanting to be caressed. He doesn’t have mischievous eyes; they are forlorn for a friend. When I work in the back yard, if I’m down on my knees, he positions himself directly between my face and the object I’m working on. I can try to push his big cumbersome body out of the way to see what I’m doing, but he won’t budge. He just longs for my attention. He’s not joking; he’s as serious and determined as he can be in his own doggy way.
Obviously, if I’m down on his level, it must be because I want to converse with him. Makes perfect sense! Isn’t that why people crowded Jesus so much that He had no time so much as to eat? If God comes down to our level, it must mean He wants us to crowd Him, right?! God has given us the animals to teach us about ourselves, and about Himself and the relationship He wants with His intelligent creatures.
Back to Chester. As much as I love Woogie, I can’t allow him to live in the house with us. That is completely out of the question. If the day ever comes that he gets house-trained and then goes on lengthy probation, then he will be trusted to come inside, but never before that.
Likewise, God wants to give us heaven and all of its warmth and wonder. He longs to welcome us back into paradise. But sin has ruined that prospect. He can’t let us back into His kingdom, because we would indiscriminately drop filth and irreverence all over the place. He will not risk the purity of His Home and the safety of others who live at His Home, even though He loves us undisciplined sinners with all His heart. Sin has put God into a real quandary. It has really bound Him down, though we don’t realize it. And that’s the problem with allowing us back into heaven without going through a lengthy and painful training program─we don’t realize how much filth we leave in our path, how much trash leaves our mouths, how hard our hearts are, how hard it is for us to love, and trust, and praise Him for all of His kindness toward us. But He loves us and knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows how we’ve been abused by our previous master and the almost permanent damage it has caused, which is why He despises His enemy so much. He judges us by all of that.
So until our training is over and we pass the final, until we’ve learned to carry the cross, to die to self, to walk with Jesus, trusting Him implicitly and obeying all of His commands (not just the big ten), we are refused God’s home─FLAT REFUSED!! Period, no arguments! And can you blame Him?? When He had to punish them by preventing them from entering the earthly land of promise, Christ proclaimed in infinite determination toward His stubbornly intractable Israel, “As truly as I live, All the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord!” Num. 14:21. Yet, He loves us, nonetheless, just like I overlook all of Chester’s faults, and love his dogginess and warm heart. Something tells me that as long as he and I keep our relationship, he will slowly learn where I stand on house rules and he will learn all that goes into living with his master. I have no reason to believe otherwise.
“And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them…They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” Is. 11:6,9.
He was abused by his previous owner before my daughter brought him home. He winces at any loud command, like, “Get out of the house!” So instead of running for dear life, he drops to the floor and squints his eyes. I have no thought of striking him, but that’s his reaction. I just want him out of the house, so I pick him up (no easy task) or drag him out by the collar, while he puts on all four brakes.
I know I sound mean. But the reason I panic is because we tried to house train him when we first got him. What a disaster! He doesn’t even make the slightest attempt to find an out-of-the-way place to leave his stinking present or even to urinate. It’s just: stop in your tracks, and relieve yourself. No warning. No nothing. He’s about as wild as you can get, I suppose.
But he has something going for him. He is super-affectionate. Whenever I’m walking the dogs, while the other two are out on their search and destroy mission to find all the places to mark, Chester comes up to me and leans against my leg, wanting to be caressed. He doesn’t have mischievous eyes; they are forlorn for a friend. When I work in the back yard, if I’m down on my knees, he positions himself directly between my face and the object I’m working on. I can try to push his big cumbersome body out of the way to see what I’m doing, but he won’t budge. He just longs for my attention. He’s not joking; he’s as serious and determined as he can be in his own doggy way.
Obviously, if I’m down on his level, it must be because I want to converse with him. Makes perfect sense! Isn’t that why people crowded Jesus so much that He had no time so much as to eat? If God comes down to our level, it must mean He wants us to crowd Him, right?! God has given us the animals to teach us about ourselves, and about Himself and the relationship He wants with His intelligent creatures.
Back to Chester. As much as I love Woogie, I can’t allow him to live in the house with us. That is completely out of the question. If the day ever comes that he gets house-trained and then goes on lengthy probation, then he will be trusted to come inside, but never before that.
Likewise, God wants to give us heaven and all of its warmth and wonder. He longs to welcome us back into paradise. But sin has ruined that prospect. He can’t let us back into His kingdom, because we would indiscriminately drop filth and irreverence all over the place. He will not risk the purity of His Home and the safety of others who live at His Home, even though He loves us undisciplined sinners with all His heart. Sin has put God into a real quandary. It has really bound Him down, though we don’t realize it. And that’s the problem with allowing us back into heaven without going through a lengthy and painful training program─we don’t realize how much filth we leave in our path, how much trash leaves our mouths, how hard our hearts are, how hard it is for us to love, and trust, and praise Him for all of His kindness toward us. But He loves us and knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows how we’ve been abused by our previous master and the almost permanent damage it has caused, which is why He despises His enemy so much. He judges us by all of that.
So until our training is over and we pass the final, until we’ve learned to carry the cross, to die to self, to walk with Jesus, trusting Him implicitly and obeying all of His commands (not just the big ten), we are refused God’s home─FLAT REFUSED!! Period, no arguments! And can you blame Him?? When He had to punish them by preventing them from entering the earthly land of promise, Christ proclaimed in infinite determination toward His stubbornly intractable Israel, “As truly as I live, All the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord!” Num. 14:21. Yet, He loves us, nonetheless, just like I overlook all of Chester’s faults, and love his dogginess and warm heart. Something tells me that as long as he and I keep our relationship, he will slowly learn where I stand on house rules and he will learn all that goes into living with his master. I have no reason to believe otherwise.
“And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them…They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” Is. 11:6,9.
posted by David | 2:38 PM
2 Comments:
you seem to find a good outlet here for your thoughts.
thanks again for the beautiful scripture quotes.
Thanks Gagrielle,
It is a great outlet. The Lord is a great outlet, along with everything in this world that points to Him. I hope it is the same for you and many others. Have a great day!
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