The other day I took my walking buddy Ferdinand, a black mix of every kind of dog possible, to the Greenway for laps. He loves it probably as much as I do or for the learned response that once we are finished, he gets a McDonald’s hamburger – plain. The sky started turning dark and as the impending storm lurked, I pushed through. Surely I could make it one more lap. Ferdinand wasn’t as confident, glancing up at me, questioning why we weren’t heading back to the car.
And just as I should have anticipated, the storm hit, and all I could do was walk through it.
Warning signs surround us in our lives. Sometimes we heed the warning and turn back. Other times we justify the darkness, believing it either won’t happen to us or what we see as a warning really is a green light.
And because of my lack of wisdom, my sweet Ferdinand got caught in the storm too. We are not people on an island all to ourselves. Our decisions – good and bad – impact all those around us. We can quickly create unbelievable hell for ourselves and someone we love simply because of our own stupidity.
One of my favorite verses in James come to mind. “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” – James 1:22.
Do what it says.
I remember years ago I asked one of my children to take out the trash. He/she wasn’t too enthusiastic about it and decided instead to hide it. Of course after several days in its hidden location, the secret was divulged simply by the smell. The cat had found the treasure and little pieces of 3 day old tuna embedded itself into our carpet. The clean-up took a little over an hour and the smell lingered through several steam cleanings. What once was a simple 5-minute task turned into several hours, the loss of a cell phone for a week, and a good 15-minute lecture about responsibility.
God probably sees it the same way with us.
Do what it says.
