A friend of mine’s son bagged a nice turkey during the early youth Gobbler season at Honey Lake last year. It was his son’s first trophy gobbler, so old dad decided to let go of a few coins, (which grieved him greatly), and get it mounted. I called a local taxidermist buddy (whom I’ve been friends with for over three decades) and made arrangements for him to pick the turkey up.
He and his little dog came over for the pick-up, and we met at our deer cooler. We were standing around talking and catching up, when I happened to notice his little dog cross the street and enter our donkey pasture. I watched with amusement as the little pooch approached the donkeys. It was a beautiful day without a cloud in the sky and I suppose this little dog wanted to make the most of it by having a little fun chasing the donkeys around the pasture for a little while.
The problem with the dog’s theory was that donkeys don’t like being chased by a pint sized mutt that is a fraction of their size. One of them bore a colt on Christmas day which we appropriately named Rudolph (and called Rudy for short). Rudy’s mama was an old grizzled up grouch who did not take kindly to my buddy’s dog chasing her colt, and she lit out chasing after that dog with ears laid back and teeth gleaming in the sun like a thoroughbred racehorse being released from the starting gate at the Kentucky Derby.
My taxidermist buddy had not seen what had developed, but by now I was belly laughing and pointing at the spectacle of that little dog racing across the pasture with that very mad donkey thundering along behind it in hot pursuit loudly braying every time her foot hit the ground. That old mama was rapidly gaining on the little dog, (whose legs were a fraction of the size of the donkey’s), and she very nearly caught up with him before the little pooch ran under the fence, crossed the road, and arrived at our feet.
Don’t ever think that a dog can’t have an expression of embarrassment; this dog had a look of chagrin on its face that was devoid of all remaining pride as he cowered between my buddy’s feet nervously looking back at that angry old Jenny. I looked over at the donkey and she had a look on her face that was the diametric opposite of the pooch. Her countenance was one of sheer triumph, and in fact she appeared to be laughing. She then balefully stared at the pooch as if to say, “You little mutt, you come back over here and I’ll make you wish you’d never been born!” She then contemptuously snorted and casually strolled back over to her admiring companions who were lifting their heads up and down as though applauding her victory.
Hmmm . . . What appears to be good natured fun can be deceiving and if we aren’t careful can have disastrous results. Satan attempts to lure us over to his side of the fence with visions of grandeur and great fun, but in the end can devour us and steal our very souls. Better to stay close to the safety that our Father affords.
When we do, we will shine like the sun. I imagine this as our being similar to the moon and reflecting light from the sun which is representative of God. We are fully illuminated and filled with God’s glorious light when we are directly facing the “Son” with no worldly distraction. When the “Son’s” light is obliterated by the world, we go dark. The Bible states that our light should so shine that others will see it and want what we have. So the moral of this story is that we need to stay at full moon phase and not allow the world and the lust of it to block out our light and reveal our dark side . . . We should look directly to the Lord always, and let His light shine in our lives and make our shadows run like a scared little pooch.
Matthew 5:16
In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven
December 22, 2015 – Click here to listen