Recently, I have begun to realize that I am a dog lover. My first dog, Pal, ran away when I was quite young and when our beloved cocker spaniel, Rusty was put to sleep in the early eighties, I swore I would never get another dog. But, when my sister-in-law, Dorothy had a stroke, we either took her dog Buddy into our home or he went to the pound- and you know what that means!!! After a short while, I became so attached to Buddy that even the thought of giving him back was unthinkable. Then along came Starman (I call him Pal, after my first dog). There you go, TWO dogs. And they do everything together, even share their bones. Now, that is something for a dog to do!!!! So, when I saw this picture and the video on the net, I just had to put it on the blog. I was amazed at what the dog in the video could do, but the picture of a police dog going through fire was even better. Imagine going through fire to save someone???? I am speechless (well- almost)!!! Then, I remembered something that happened to me Sunday, at the evening service: I walked in the door and one of the ministers (Larry S.) said something like-- Well, two services in the same day, Wow!!! Now, I usually attend all three (2x on Sunday and Wednesday evening) but lately I have missed a couple. So, his little comment made me think about what I have been doing and where my priorities are. Take a moment and consider the following passage from the book of Acts and then its YOUR turn to reflect....
Acts, Chapter 2
44 All who believed were together, and had all things in common. 45 They sold their possessions and goods, and distributed them to all, according as anyone had need. 46 Day by day, continuing steadfastly with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread at home, they took their food with gladness and singleness of heart, 47 praising God, and having favor with all the people. The Lord added to the assembly day by day those who were being saved.
Peter had just finished preaching the first Gospel sermon and many, many people had become Christians. What did they do? They put a priority on helping one another and worship!!!! Not the once-a-week kind that many people consider the fulfillment of their CHRISTIAN DUTY, but rather an ALL-OUT commitment to their Christian life!!!! Even if I went to every service available for the rest of my life, I could never equal these brethren. Sometimes, it seems that faithfulness is defined as jumping through all the hoops (going to every single service) and then I think of a dog going through fire or the Christians of Acts 2 and all of a sudden I have to rethink everything!!!! Humm, I wonder if anyone out there can relate to these things, or is it just me being a tad over-sensitive????