God Calls Us to Be Faithful

It was a blustery day as Winnie the Pooh might say. I had gone out to my car to retrieve my Ipod and invited our dog, Maggie, to come outside with me. She gladly bounded (no kidding) out the door and into the yard beside me. There are two things that make Maggie move like greased lightning: (1) the sound of opening her treat bag & (2) the sound of our car keys as we head for the door. Hearing my keys, Maggie couldn't wait to get out the door and into the yard to play.

Maggie immediately took out across the yard to chase an unseen foe. Then, all of a sudden the neighbor's cat (who is the same size and weight as Maggie) strolled unsuspectingly across our yard. Maggie was thrilled to have a playmate and began her hot pursuit after the cat. However, the cat was not at all thrilled with the chase as Maggie was and immediately took off across the yard in the opposite direction. Maggie thinking this was an excellent game happily changed her course and began to chase after the cat. In the meantime, I am screaming for Maggie to retreat and return home. I knew the cat was the same height and weight as Maggie. But, you see, this cat is an outside cat and has a considerble amount of experience in combat. My fear was that she could impose a great deal of damage to our "not-so-street wise" Maggie. Not ready to relinquish the game, Maggie continued to run after the cat no matter which way the cat ran. I turned to see pursuit heading toward our front door. All I could think about was the time (in our old neighborhood) when our son-in-law's, T, dog chased the neighbor's cat down the street and into the neighbor's house (where the cat lived). The neighbor had left her back door open as it was a balmy day like tday. The cat fearing for her life, ran into the house being hotly pursued by the dog and our son-in-law. The chase quickly ended and apologies were given by T. as he retrieved his dog and carried his dog back down the street and into our house. In my mind's eye, I could see the chase of T's dog and our former neighbor's cat all over again - fast forward to today. Getting past the intital flashback, my thoughts quickly turned to the interior of our house. What kind of damage could a cat and a dog do at that speed and intensity of the chase. Would my house be in shambles before I could intervene, recuse the cat and disengage the chase?

Hoping to find the door open, the cat ran onto the porch and toward the front door. Finding the door closed, (thankfully I had closed it before heading to my car) the cat quickly cut back into the flowerbed and darted out into our front and across the street. Maggie, not being deterred by the change of course continued her chase. All the time I was screaming, "Maggie, come back here!"

Finally, the chase ended. Maggie returned to our yard (without the cat - Praise God!) with a look on her face like, "What???" I was reminded of a saying shared by good friend. He said, "God calls us to be faithful but NOT necessarily successful all the time."

Thankfully, that was the case for Maggie in her chase of Max, the neighbor's cat.

As children of God, we need to chose our course carefully. What seems a good idea at the time, may not be the course God is calling us to take. May we prayerfully discern where our feet take us and listen to the voice that calls us back onto the right path.