Category Archives: Obedience

Helping the Needy

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Most of us can remember a time when we’ve needed the help of someone else, which can be a humbling experience. I well remember a time when the recipient of help was me.

Linnea en route.

In 1977 when Nate and I were expecting baby #3, I was having a hard time. Pregnancies #1 and #2 had been problem-free, but the third had presented a new problem: varicose veins. The OB sent me to a specialist, who looked at my swollen legs, crossed his arms and said, “Stay off your feet, or I’ll have to put you in a bed.” (Nelson was 4 at the time, Lars was 2, and I was on my feet most of every day.)

Before I left his office, he applied compression bandages to my legs, gave me a prescription for heavy custom-made stockings, and sent me home to put my feet up. When I gave the details to Nate, he just shook his head and grimaced, not knowing how we would make it through.

Rolled poster

Several days later, I was working a shift in the church nursery when several girlfriends arrived at the door carrying a rolled-up poster. “For you,” Miriam said, handing it to me. “We want to help.”

I couldn’t imagine what she meant, but when I unrolled it, I saw a giant calendar that included every remaining week of my pregnancy, plus one more. A different friend’s name was written on each week. “We’re going to do all your household chores for you,” Miriam said, “one of us each week.”

I couldn’t believe it! Each of them had babies and toddlers of their own, along with chore lists, families, and houses to tend to. I responded by blubbering, “Oh, you don’t have to do that! I’ll be fine!” But they said, “It’s not up for negotiation. Like it or not, we’re coming.”

The Helpers

I’ve never forgotten their touching gift, and Nate was deeply grateful, too. Their hard work on our behalf also made an impression on our young boys, and most importantly, God appreciated it.

Scripture tells us that whenever someone helps the needy, God is pleased. Not only that, but he lines up special blessings for those helpers. And there’s more. He makes careful note of their work, preparing lavish rewards for them that will last throughout eternity.

My girlfriends followed through on their chart, arriving at my house according to their scheduled times. They kept my home and family running better than I ever had, and if that wasn’t enough, each week the scheduled worker brought dinner for that evening.

And now we're three.

Baby Linnea eventually arrived safely, and several months after her birth, my veins were corrected through surgery. And the bottom line for my friends? The effects of their good deeds will literally last forever.

“Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.” (1 Corinthians 15:58)

Too smart for her own good.

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Yesterday I blogged about Penny, our well-loved Golden Retriever who had to be put down after her violent attack. Up to that point, however, she’d been a good family dog.

She was smart, memorizing tricks after only one or two tries, and seamlessly running through the whole lot of them with one command as if she was doing a gymnastics floor routine.

Penny

We wanted Penny to enjoy the expanse of our half-acre yard, so we installed an underground electric fence linked to her collar. If she crossed it, she’d get a jolt. We could regulate the level of what she felt from mild to severe, as well as modify how close she could get to the current before receiving the shock.

It wasn’t as cruel as it sounds. As Penny neared the wire, her collar would slowly click, ticking faster as she approached. If she obeyed the collar’s signals, she never had to feel a shock. During her first training session, the fence man said she’d figured it out faster than any dog he’d ever worked with.

All went well for several weeks until one day we came home to find Penny romping around the neighborhood. Gradually her wanderlust increased, and whether we were gone or in the house, every few days she’d escape from the yard.

None of us could figure it out. We called the fence guy who told us to “up” the current as an incentive for her to stay inside the wire. Although we did, she didn’t. The point of the electric fence was to give her as much freedom as possible without letting her run in front of a car or get lost. But she viewed it as confinement from which she needed to break free.

Sometimes we do the same thing with the protective parameters God puts around us. When he says it’s wiser if we don’t do a certain thing, our will immediately says, “But I want to!” That kind of rebellion began with Eve, was followed by Adam, and has been humankind’s M.O. ever since, despite the trouble that usually results.

But God loves us too much to give up on his parameters-program. He “ups” the current until we finally accept that his limitations are for our benefit.

As for Penny, she continued to escape, though none of us had ever seen her shoot through the current. Then one day the mystery was solved. Our intelligent dog had figured out not only where the wire was buried but how high the current reached. She was leaving the yard pain-free by jumping over an invisible fence that was only 24 inches tall.

In the end we outsmarted our smart dog though, increasing the current to 6 feet, and as the trainer said, “We finally put some religion in her.”

“Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit.” (Romans 8:5)

Enraged

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TobyI grew up with a scruffy but loveable dog named Toby. We had him for 15 years, and he was an important member of my childhood family.

BaronThen when Nate and I were newlyweds, we adopted little Baron and loved him like a baby.

 

Penny, 9 weeksOther dogs have come and gone through the years, but when we bought a 4 week old Golden Retriever named Penny, we figured we had our long-term family dog.

In her 3rd year, however, something snapped inside her. It happened on a day when Nate and I had taken her to the beach, her favorite fetching place. While he walked the shoreline, I threw a stick for Penny, who never tired of retrieving.

 

Penny retrievesAfter 30 minutes, I leaned over to attach her leash as I’d done many times before, but this time she looked up at me, unexpectedly bared her teeth, and in a full blown attack clamped down on my hand, biting all the way through.

“Penny!” I shouted. “Stop! It’s me!” She and I had spent most days together, and I’d been the one who fed her, played fetch in the yard every morning after carpooling, and loved her wholeheartedly. But she was in a blind rage and didn’t know me. Intent on her attack, she released my hand and bit me again and again, moving up my arm toward my throat.

She pulled me to the sand, shaking me like a hunting dog shakes a rabbit, and I felt myself being dragged to the water. I remembered that if a dog ever attacked, the thing to do was jab your fingers in its eyes and it would quit. But Penny had been my friend, and there was no way I could do that. Thankfully, Nate came running back from his walk just then, shouting and waving his arms. Penny let go of me and ran, her strange attack over.

Once in a while we hear about people raging in a way much like Penny did, turning in unexplained fury on those they supposedly love. It’s impossible to understand and gives rise to anger within us when we think of the innocents they’ve harmed, especially if they are children. Our instinct is to want them to suffer exactly as they’ve made others suffer, which sounds fair. But God tells us vengeful thinking isn’t right.

Incredibly he says, “Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling.” (1 Peter 3:9) Instead “be transformed by the renewal of your mind…” (Romans 12:2) He’s saying, “Let me give you a radically different way to think.” But of course we aren’t able to push away thoughts of pay-back without his supernatural power flowing through us.

He’s willing to give us that, though, if we’re willing to receive it. But vengeance must be left to him, he says, and in the end he’ll see to it that perfect justice will be done.

“When Jesus was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.” (1 Peter 2:23)