Big, Scary, Black Dogs and a Fence

Before I begin let me set this up for you, I do not like most dogs. I have a dog, but it weighs 8 pounds and is really quiet tempered, loves all people and is just a great dog! I am not against big dogs I guess, but I am a tad bit scared of them. In fact, there is a house on the way to town that I walk on the other side of the street to avoid because they have two very vicious dogs that bark at the fence at anyone who passes by.

I was walking down the street the other day and a dog started running at me – a huge dog. It was black and it was growling. I was so scared and would have run if I was not aware that I was in public outside. But I kept my cool and kept walking straight, but I quickened my pace… a lot!

My mind, my cursed, over thinking mind, quickly related the big scary dog to life because sometimes life has big scary things in it. I don’t know about you, but I can think of many situations that I have felt like I was in a huge pickle and I could not see anything but the big, scary, black, growling dog that was coming at me. It’s not pleasant at all, is it? I believe because of personal experience and from watching and listening to other people that when something bad happens sometimes people are blind to the good things in their life, like family, friends, but mostly God.

When that scary Dog was running at me I was so scared that I wanted to run, but I pretended to be strong for the people who could possibly be watching me from there window. My mind could not see anything but the big black dog, but when the dog got really close to me he jumped up and stopped. My hand raced up to my racing heart and that is when I realized that there was a fence there the whole time. The dog couldn’t get to me if he tried and he sure did try!

You see God is like the fence, the protection from the scary things. He is easy to overlook when the dog seems so big, but God is not going to throw anything at you that you cannot handle and he sure isn’t going to leave you alone to the Dog. He is the ultimate protector, the fence and unless you choose to cross over the fence the mean dogs can’t get you. God won’t let them!

So next time a big, scary, black, growling dog is running at you remember that God, the fence, will protect you from it and that he has not left you to fend for yourself.

You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat. – Isaiah 25:4 (NIV)

A+ paper anyone?

I had almost finished my final project for world history. It was perfect, the pictures, the facts, everything. Well, at least it was perfect... untill my mother holepunched the wrong side of one of the pages.

My perfect A+ paper ruined by my oh so "helpful" mother. I wanted to cry. I had worked so hard on my paper to have it ruined.

Makes me think about how God feels when we mess up the life he has worked on for so long. It has to make his sad. He walks with us all our lives and teaches us to be like him and all of a sudden we mess up. We mess up, we back away, scared that He's going to be mad at us. We try to hide our imperfections from the one who sees all, the most Holy God.

But He's not mad. He still loves you. If anything he is sad. Sad that we made a mistake and fell away. Sad because we are afraid to go near him. Sad because sin got in the way or His relationship with you. Sad because He didn't create the world to be that way, but it ended up that way.

Sad just like I was sad when my project was "ruined". The same heartsick sadness He got when Adom and Eve ate the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. But never mad.

But the story can't end there. "We make a mistake, God is sad, we go to you know where." If that was so, there would be no point in this post. It would be a terrible story because there is no hope, people walking around feeling guilty for past sins that hang over there head never feeling relief from the heavy burdens that lay on there back. Thankfully, it doesnt!

God loves us so much that he sent his son, Jesus, to live in the world with us and one day take our sins upon himself. Jesus offered hope to us. He told us that we could be free of the mistakes we had made, big and small, and that he would make a way... and then one day he was killed and hung on a cross without a sin to his name, He lived a perfect life. That's a huge downer, right? We finnaly feel good about something and then all hope dies, but it doesn't end there either. Jesus died, but he rose again. He defeated death! You see, When Jesus died he took all of the sins we confess to God with him to death. They are completely gone, erased. As far as God can see they did not even exist. Jesus made a way for us to be A+ papers again when we are finished!

I imagine God singing up in heaven "I will fix you, I will fix you," when we mess up. Realize though that he can only fix us if we truly want him to

Now, of course, my paper wasn't completely ruined and I was able to fix it. It wasn't perfect, but it was still an A+ paper. God loves you and he wants to fix you when you mess up! Are you ready to be completely whole again?