Dying Dog On My Trunk

I paced around the stores asking God to show me a family to help. It was a few days before Christmas, and I was hoping to recognize a family in financial need that I could bless with food or toys. “Please God, lead me to someone,” I prayed to myself. “Show me exactly the right people.” And so it was with disappointment that I left the last store of my shopping spree, not having sensed the Holy Spirit show me anyone for which to buy anything.

I started home in my car and approached a familiar three-way intersection. Just as I began to apply my brakes to stop at the sign, I watched a blue truck ease out of a stop directly opposite me in the intersection, coming toward me. Running beside the large, shiny pick-up truck was a cute dog, a beagle. The driver could not have possibly seen the dog running right alongside the passenger side front wheel, because the truck was so high from the ground.

As the dog continued running near the truck, I whispered to myself, “Get away, little dog. Move away.” My words were to no avail. As the truck sped up to go through the intersection, the dog ran directly under the vehicle and was run over. Every second of this horrific event unfolded before my eyes. When the dog was hit, I screamed. Immediately, I knew I had to stop, though I had no idea what I could do or how I would handle this dog that had been crushed through the middle.

I pulled over into a driveway as the dog writhed in pain in the middle of the road. A man raced to the dog and covered him with his coat. I stood with the man who gently put his hand on the dog and explained through tears and anger, “I am the dog’s owner. I saw him running by the truck, and I jumped out of my car to try to stop him, but it was too late.” The man cried as his pet continued to struggle.

A stranger threw a blanket toward us, and the dog’s owner wrapped it around the poor beagle and carried the animal to my car. He looked at someone else and said, “I don’t know whose car this is, but I want to lay my dog here.” I told him it was mine and he could surely let his pet rest on my trunk. So He did.

Within a few minutes, the dog stopped tossing and died. Right there on the trunk of my car, the beagle perished. Soon, the dog owner’s wife and step-son made their way to the scene, and the woman began to sob uncontrollably. As I put my hand on her shoulder to try to comfort her, she came to reveal a sad fact. At the moment of their dog’s accident, the family was on their way to the hospital to pick up her mother, who was coming home to die of cancer after a long battle. Unbelievable. They witnessed the death of their pet on the way to begin the journey of imminent death of a beloved family member. On top of all this, the elderly gentleman who was driving the truck that hit the dog arrived at the scene, unable to stop apologizing or hold back tears. He was obviously filled with grief about the accident, certainly wishing he could somehow “undo” what had happened.

As I stood in the driveway on this cold, bleak winter day with a dead dog on my trunk whose blood now began to drip down my tail light and a sobbing stranger at my side whose mother was dying, my heart came into focus. I realized God had answered my prayer and shown me a family – and a whole lot more.

We don’t really have to search for hurt; it’s everywhere. Every person we pass in the store is carrying some pain and facing some difficulty. No one escapes the heartbreak of sin’s effects. We drive down the road and meet death and suffering at the intersection, so to speak. The trunk of a car that usually bears the weight of groceries or shopping bags or picnic supplies can also bear the weight of destruction and death. No person, no animal, and no thing evades the clutches of sin’s curse. The devastation is real; do not deny the strength and ugliness of the results of rebellion against God. Know it. Then hate it. Fight against sinfulness wherever you find it. Begin in your own heart. Determine to do battle with sin and its icy cold grasp, for it is the source of all this misery.

That evening, as my husband and I packed up freshly baked cookies, a fruit basket, and a devotional book for the hurting family I had just met hours ago; I asked the Holy Spirit to deliver hope. When we arrived at the home, we were invited in for a few minutes by the family that was definitely shocked to see me again. I expressed my sympathy about the dog and my prayers for their mother who was now already at the house receiving hospice. I just wanted to take a taste of the kindness – the grace – of Jesus to that family. Perhaps the power of sin would be broken in one more little sphere of this world.

Later that evening, my own uncle succumbed to his battle with cancer. I sat with my extended family around his body and once again pondered the agony of the last enemy that Jesus will one day conquer – death. How hideous evil is. How gruesome its fallout.

As I went to sleep that night, I could not get my family, the dog, or the other family out of my head. But I realized that – as Christians – we all need reminded of the ultimate battle that is taking place. In a dark world, we must be shining the light of the hope of ultimate redemption. When I had taken a bucket of soapy water and flushed the remaining dog blood out of my taillight that afternoon, I was reminded of the truest sacrifice of all time – the blood of Jesus Christ. What blood we now see shed as a result of sin is really nothing compared to the blood of the sinless God-Man once dripping from the Cross as the cure for sin.

This cosmic conflict isn’t a game; this is real. Everything is at stake. Death and suffering have come to all because of sin. There is a real problem; there is a real answer. Jesus saves. Jesus delivers a hope that darkness cannot steal from us.

We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. – I John 5:19-20 (ESV)

Far As the Curse Is Found

Third verse of Joy To the World:
“He comes to make his blessings known far as the curse is found…”

Just exactly how far IS the curse found?

It reaches down every aisle at Walmart in the hearts of frustrated people.
It’s found at every opening of a bottle of medicine at the hands of the sick.
It strikes the houses in the neighborhood in the hearts of lonely people.
It stretches to the office of every person with an unfulfilled dream.
It extends to the corner of the classroom with the isolated child.
It spreads through the community after the devastating storm.
It seizes the face of the hurting as tears run down their cheeks.

Jesus came to bring His redeeming grace far as the curse is found. This grace currently enables us to hold on while we walk in the places touched by the curse. This redeeming power will one day overcome the curse in all places of its grasp.

The God who brought the curse because of our sin, will soon remove the curse because of His Son. The curse does not magically disappear; it has been undone through the curse put upon the Son of God on the cross. (II Corinthians 5:21)

Thank you, Jesus, that one day no person will walk in frustration.
No medicine will ever again be needed.
No person will ever be lonely.
No worthy dream will ever go unfulfilled.
No natural disaster will ever wreak havoc.
And no tear of sadness will ever be shed.

“He comes to make his blessings known far as the curse is found, far as the curse is found, far as, far as the curse is found.”

(Revelation 21:3)

Never

I have been let down
In, oh, so many ways.
Family, friend, and foe
Have slain my heart.

The reasons are quite clear,
Though the pain is just as great;
One cause is that same curse
I see in the mirror.

As I wrestle with myself
In the continued struggle with my flesh,
Disappointment does abound,
Crushing you and crushing me.

And even when we try
To stop hurting those around,
The nature of our being
prevents ultimate attainment.

We want to cure,
But we can’t heal.
We want to be there, but are prevented
By obligations and constraints.

We want to listen,
But we can only hear one person at a time.
We want to follow through,
But we grow ill and weary.

We want to promise,
But we have no control.
We want to stay,
But we all die.

Thank you, great God!
Sinless, you are;
And truly unlimited.

You can heal.
You can be there.
You can listen,
And follow through.
You can promise,
And you can stay.

You are the One –
The only One –
Who keeps His Word.

Yes, I have been let down
In, oh, so many ways.
And I have let down others
Times beyond number.

But never
Will my God let me down.

Integrity, the Second Law of Thermodynamics, and Jesus

Integrity is not a boring word. In fact, integrity encapsulates much of that for which we humans long. Integrity is not a fluffy concept; it is a very real and rich component of God’s world. Integrity and the second law of thermodynamics have an all-important, inverse relationship. The importance of integrity is observed in mathematics as well as science, in relationships as well as language. Integrity hints of Heaven, a very real place where all will be as it ought to be.

Consider the phrase, “My world is falling apart.” When spoken, we realize these words imply something ominous. A common response to the phrase might be, “Pull yourself together.” Note that “falling apart” is associated with something bad and “pulling together” is associated with something good. Why? Even our language reflects the inner desire for integrity – wholeness or the state of being unbroken.

Consider simple arithmetic. Would you rather add five whole numbers or five fractions? We like to deal with whole numbers or integers because we can easily wrap our minds around these. Fractions are messy and confusing; they take time to digest.

In much the same way, a human being without integrity is hard to figure. His life is confusing because he is broken. The essence of him is one way in one situation and another way in a different situation. Your mind cannot wrap itself around who the person truly is. This is precisely because we desire integrity; we desire to know people for who they truly are. A person without integrity becomes untrustworthy and easily shaken.

Lack of integrity – or disintegration – pops up not only in people and mathematics, it is embedded in the fallen universe. Scientific laws reflect disintegration’s reality and, therefore, reflect the very real necessity of integrity.

The first law of thermodynamics pronounces that our universe is a closed system; the amount of matter and energy in our world is constant. The second law of thermodynamics proclaims that, although the amount of energy in the universe is constant, the amount of useful energy is running down. As energy is converted, waste is produced. The world is – for all practical purposes – falling apart and disintegrating.

We note the effects of the second law of thermodynamics all around us. Our bodies are wearing out and winding down. Atrophy sets into the muscles unless we act upon them with force and energy. A room left to itself for very long will no doubt become disorganized unless energy is applied to its cleaning. Metal objects begin to rust. Erosion takes place. Everything is winding down and wearing out in its natural state.

The second law of thermodynamics was set into motion by the sin curse. When mankind gave into sin and rebelled against God’s way, God cursed man and woman, the serpent who deceived them, and the earth. To this very day, we suffer the effects of that curse in our hearts, our minds, our bodies, and in our universe.

Directly related to the physical effects of sin in this world is the very real effect of brokenness of heart. The curse of sin on us as people who have rebelled against God has produced a state of disintegration in our spiritual lives. For this reason, we tend not to keep our word, we tend to think one way and act another, we tend to portray ourselves one way to others and find ourselves quite another in the quietness of solitude. We are broken people in a broken world. Disintegration and the second law of thermodynamics are related – they both reflect a rebellious state of things. We have failed God. Only God maintains a standard which produces perfection.

Is there hope? Hope is found only in Jesus Christ, the God-Man. As fully God, Jesus is holy. As fully man, Jesus is able to pay the price for human sin. When a man or woman comes to Jesus and trusts Him as the sacrifice for his or her sinfulness, that man or woman is made right with holy God. At that moment, a person becomes a new creation, fully re-made in his spirit (II Corinthians 5:17). This person is now in right-standing with God because Jesus has settled the sin factor between man and God.

As relationship with Jesus Christ is maintained, a person continues to grow in righteousness. Righteousness is simply the state of “being as we ought to be” or being as God originally intended. While on this sin-cursed earth, perfection will never be complete. However, the spirit in the new man or woman desires righteousness and knows that Heaven holds the answer to disintegration of the mind, body, emotions, and universe.

Psalm 1:1-3a says, “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither.” The withering leaf is a part of the second law of thermodynamics. Death and destruction are built into a fallen, rebellious world. It is quite natural for leaves to wither. What God promises, however, is that the law of nature can be overridden in the human heart when we love His Word and apply it to our lives in the midst of this broken world! A person who makes the law of the Lord his focus in the everyday moments of life will defy the sin curse. The inner man – the essence of who we are – will stand strong. Although disintegration produces confusion and destruction, the person following the Lord will be a person of integrity. We will be clearly understood for who we are, we will bring life and healing as opposed to death and hurt, we will reflect the place to which we are ultimately called – Heaven.

Remember that Jesus will come back one day to this world in which we live, and after He has brought judgment to those who have rejected Him, He will re-make this world. He will forever destroy the second law of thermodynamics and every kind of disintegration. Wholeness and life will finally prevail.