Does God care about animals? I am convinced that He loves dogs, but I am not so sure about cats. Just the other day I was traveling home from doing something that I really cannot stand to do…are you curious? It's grocery shopping… There has to be a better way for food to get from the store to my shelves! Anyway, while I was driving home, singing with the song on the radio, I saw a white blur moving in the weeds to my left. This white blur was a little Jack Russell which then decided to run right in front of my car. I don't know how smart this dog breed is supposed to be, but this particular model had a few biscuits short in his box. As you probably guessed, I hit the dog. I knew that someone out there probably loves small yippy dogs, so I pulled over. When I got out of my car, I could hear the dog barking and growling. He was probably chewing me out…I can't repeat some of the things he probably said. The dog was still on the road, and a semi was coming, so I pulled him off the road and into a yard by his back legs. The first thing that came to my mind was someone needs to put him out of his misery. I walked up to the house and started banging on the door. No one answered. I did notice a sign in the yard which had a phone number on it—(they sell straw and hay.) When I was getting ready to call this phone number, the dog started crawling. Before this time, he only barked and growled. The only problem was he started crawling back to the road. I yelled and a big truck flew by…that was enough to persuade him to come back towards the yard. As I said earlier, this dog was not too smart. He probably couldn't pass a urine test. After the dog started crawling, I thought that I should probably be praying. So I prayed. Then I called the number, and a man came up from the barn. But before he got there, this dog stood up, and tried to walk. He did but he sure would have failed a sobriety test. After walk-running sideways for awhile, he went up to the house and sat down. The man came up and picked him up and I explained what happened, and I told him that I prayed for his dog. He thanked me several times, and I left. As crazy as this sounds, I believe that God showed me a miracle. God began the healing of this dog. I noticed and started to pray. I was able to join in what God was doing, and it blessed me and increased my faith.
This leads me to my next point. Sometimes we either see or hear about someone who is struggling in their spiritual walk. This person may be just going along not aware the direction is danger that they are headed into. We can see the truck coming and know they will not survive…yet what can we say? We don't want to risk sounding too religious or preachy. What if this person no longer wants to be our friend?
Jude 1:21-23 Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.
Next time you see a friend or someone that you know who is struggling with faith, and have wandered a little far from the herd…I want you to picture them on the road about to be hit. What would you say to them? Would you apologize for what you are going to say, or would you scream—“GET OFF THE ROAD!” If you start praying now…the Holy Spirit will give you the words to say when you need them.
Be Blessed and Used Today,
Pastor Ray
