I was living on Treasure Island (in the San Francisco Bay), and walking my dog, Baron.  An older car was heading toward us and when it came along side, the car backfired.  I was expecting that The Baron would freak out and try to run away, so I tightened my grip on the leash and prepared for a jerk.  Instead, of running off, he sat down right next to me and looked up at me.  For me, this was a major accomplishment.  My dad took great pride and a lot of effort in training his dogs.  He had a boxer (Duke) that he could tell to sit and stay while he went into a store, and when Dad came out, Duke would still be there.  It helped that Duke was incredibly ugly and no one would mess with him, but it was also a tribute to my dad and his ability to train.  One of the goals to training a dog to that point is when something out of the ordinary happens, the dog would sit and look to it’s master for further instructions.  This is exactly what The Baron did.  I was so proud.

As I was telling him what a good dog he was for doing that, it occurred to me that this is how we should be in our relationship with God.

I don’t know about you, but when something out of the ordinary happens, most of the time I will busy myself with what I consider to be appropriate actions.  I will do what I can to minimize damage or injury.  I will be thinking about how to repair or replace what needs to be repaired or replaced.  Then after all the excitement dies down, and I have done everything I can think of to do, that is when I will go to God.  That seems logical, but is not the best way to go about things.  Now if there is a dangerous situation, we first must get out of that area or do what we can to mitigate the danger.  If your house is on fire, GET OUT OF THE HOUSE, call 911.  Then pray, but do it then.

Remember, He is there. He has all the answers we need, and best of all, He wants to help us.  It’s His wisdom that we need.  After something unexpected happens we are faced with a lot of decisions that need to be made.  Rather than run around like chickens with our heads cut off and hope He will bless our choices, it would be much better to learn what He knows is best for us and do that.

Bill