My buddy Jack is the perfect dog, loyal, loving and protective. Lately, though, his once-predictable behavior has changed. Although he gets at least three walks and a beach trip every day, recently he’s been requesting more (pestering with whining, refusing to settle, wagging enthusiastically).

And another change: after “doing his business” morning and evening for years, now it’s morning, mid-morning, mid-day, mid-afternoon and evening. Louisa and I just couldn’t figure it out.

Then there was his new habit of going to the basement, something he never did except to follow me, if I went. Although he didn’t sneak down there while we were home, each time we left and returned, we found him climbing up the steps to greet us rather than sitting atop the stairs in his usual spot.

Today we solved the mystery. Jack has been sneaking extra dog food. He’s never snatched a piece of meat off the counter or a tidbit from the edge of the dining table. His manners have been impeccable since we got him 8 years ago, but now something’s changed.

Maybe the whole thing is my fault, since his giant bag of dog food always sits wide open on the basement floor. I didn’t know it was tempting him and wonder how much temptation finally put him “over the top.”

We could wonder the same about ourselves. None of us are tempted to bury our faces in a bag of Kibbles and Bits, although we might do it if the morsels were covered in chocolate.

Of course temptations come in all sizes and shapes, and they’re not all cloaked in calories. Satan’s efforts to derail righteousness involve taking anything God meant as a blessing and pushing it to an extreme, either too much or too little. No category is exempt from his tampering: what we read, watch, eat… or don’t read, watch eat. Where we go, who we befriend, how we judge, what we say… or don’t.

Scripture describes two roads to get through life: the broad and the narrow. A picture of the broad one includes the devil’s acres of extremes; the narrow way depicts a moderate middle. Since most of us are less about self-control and more about keeping all our options open, we know which road looks most attractive.

After Jesus expounded on the two roads, his next scriptural words were, “Watch out!” And therein lies the key to successfully walking the narrow road: we need to keep a watchful eye on the broad one, so we’ll know when we’re wandering too close to it. But keeping an eye on it and stepping on it are as different as resisting temptation and giving in to it. We need to watch out!

And speaking of narrow and broad, Jack’s broadening physique has betrayed which road he prefers.

“Wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Matthew 7:13,14)

It’s a good thing I’m not allergic to dust. As I’ve been cleaning my basement, gags and chest coughs have punctuated the effort.

After weeks of upstairs ripping, pounding and hammering on the floors, dust and sawdust downstairs has settled on every item, including miles of pipes and electrical lines running between basement ceiling rafters.

But my rag bag and I are gradually making our way through the debris, cleaning but also gathering piles of give-away, throw-away, put-away. I’ve been impressed by the pervasiveness of fine dust, which doesn’t limit itself to top-coating but works its way inside boxes and bags, too, necessitating a more sophisticated level of cleaning than I had hoped to do.

After three days of dust-removal, my thoughts have wandered through the many Bible stories in which dust played a part, beginning of course with God’s forming of the very first human being. That momentous occasion was dust’s finest hour. Shortly after that God told the serpent he’d have to crawl around in the dust on a permanent basis. With all the dust-crawling I’ve done, I can relate.

For the most part, dust has been a negative. Think about when Moses was up on Mt. Sinai having a miraculous encounter with God. His impatient followers were down below worshipping their newly-created golden idol. When Moses saw that, he taught them a powerful lesson by grinding the gold into dust, scattering it on their drinking water and forcing them to drink it. Impressive.

Another time God turned acres of dust into lice as a plague against his enemies, which must have been effective.

Scripture also uses a dust-picture to help us understand the smallness of the universe compared to his greatness.

We also find scriptural people sitting in dust or throwing it on their heads while mourning over sin.

And we’re all familiar with God’s description of what happens to our bodies after we die: they “return to dust.”

As I worked in the basement with dust-bunnies and cobwebs laced through my hair and clothes, I thought of my favorite dusty Bible story. The narrative says Jesus was busy debunking the shallow wisdom of the Pharisees as they stood ready, rocks-in-hand, to stone a prostitute. Jesus did something mysterious and wonderful. He squatted down and wrote a message in the dust.

What was it? Maybe a note to the woman: “Get ready for a big surprise.” Maybe a message to his watching Father: “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Maybe a simple, “Love covers sin.” Some day I hope to find out.

In the mean time, dealing with the dust in our lives can grow into a full time job as we clean up…

…both the sinful parts and the basements.

“Remember your Creator now… before the silver cord of life snaps and the golden bowl is broken. For then the dust will return to the earth, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.” (Ecclesiastes 12:6,7)