Nicole Hamrick, our tireless and highly valued minister to our youth and children and etc., is a well known chronicler of the exploits and lessons learned from the canine members of her family whom she loves dearly. She always comes up with some insightful pooch parables that are most helpful as we analyze the similarities between humankind and their close companions…dawgs.
Today I will be venturing into Nicole’s area of expertise, and I do so most cautiously realizing I lack her keen insight and talent for finding humor in the actions of man/woman’s best friend. I have said all this nice stuff about Nicole because I plan on borrowing money from her. Keep that between us.
Well anyway, here’s my dawg story. Raney my four legged furry best friend is a registered, full-blooded, pedigreed black dawg. I think she’s a lab shepherd mix but that’s debatable. She loves people so much that when someone walks by the road in front of the Oliver estate I warn them immediately when they notice the slobbering tailwagger…“do not speak to her!” Our own Christa Harmon probably has mental and physical scars that remind her of encounters with a dawg that loves so much it’s downright dangerous. All she did to put her life on the line was smile and say…“RANEY”!
Oswald Chambers had a word he used quite often in his writings. That word is “abandonment.” No, he is not talking about leaving someone high and dry. But instead he is talking about cutting loose, letting it go, living with enthusiasm, and letting the chips fall where they may. Chambers suggests that the follower of Christ should abandon all to follow him and trust him with the outcome. In Raney’s case, she loves with a sense of wild abandonment. I can scold her, yell at her, threaten her with a newspaper or a two by four and she still loves unconditionally. I am not telling you today to go tackle someone and tell’em you love’em. But I am saying you may want to love and accept people in a rather radical way. Abandon yourself to the power of God’s love and let it be lived out among the people of the world. You could scar some folks for the better. While an encounter with Raney results in scratches and scrapes that do not soon disappear, an encounter with a Christian who attempts to love all people and who lives the Christ life with abandonment leaves impressions and a physical witness to the world that God is still active in the world through His people.
In our isolated world today, go fist bump someone and tell them you love them. Jesus said the law is fulfilled in this command…love God with all you have and love people. Let’s do that.
I love you Poplar Springs!
Andy O
Previous
A Note from Gerry Poston