Monday, March 7, 2011

Obedience

Obedience


Speeding down the long straight away the car reaches speeds over 200 miles per hour  and then slows down entering the corner. Banking on the race track curves to an upward angle. The car must remain in control, speed kept high as possible. The tires must have the right balance of camber. Too much positive camber will wear on the outside rubber of the tires. Too much negative camber will wear on the inside of the tire and eventually wear out the tires and possibly cause them to flatten. The tire must have the right balance of camber for that particular track so that the tires grip the track using as much of the rubber on the tire as possible. This helps the car maintain a fast speed and control entering into the corner while also gaining speed coming out of the corner. My husband (Danny) races oval track and I have become quite familiar with the phrase camber. It only seemed fitting that when we took a new young pup into our family that we give her a name that has to do with the race car. We named her Camber. Our other dog’s name is Axsel. Our new pup is a black Shepherd – Border Collie mix. We have had to make some major adjustments with this new addition to the family.

Camber has earned her name. We have had her for three months. It seems like longer. Camber is displaying a lot of imbalance. She has many positive features which often make it easy for us to forgive her for some of the things she does. It comes with the puppy stage. Camber also has a few negative features which she often displays. We have not quite found the balance in Camber yet. I would like to focus on the major imbalance we are struggling to find at this time. She is very disobedient and stubborn. If she does not want to come when we call her, there is no way to get her to come.

I would like to tell you a true event from only a couple of weeks ago. It was a sunny day; a good day to let the dogs go for a long run in the open field out back of our house. Both dogs ran free through the snow and chased each other while enjoying their freedom. However, I am supposed to be the master. It was time to come back into the house. Well, Camber was not going to obey. Needless to say, my blood pressure began to rise. I mean, come on. I feed her. I wipe her wounds when she needs my help. Often, I reward her with nice treats and bones to chew. I lavish my love on her all the time. Why would she run away from me and not obey? Determined, I tried everything to get her to obey, including trying to give her a Texas sized bone that any other dog would die for. Problem was that she would not come close enough to me to get it. Surely, she must have known that when she came close to me, I had every intention of grabbing her by the collar and taking her into my house. After all, I had other things to do than chase the dog all afternoon. Well, I tried for the longest time to coax her back to me but to no avail. Somewhat at my wits ends, I sat on the front steps wearing my slippers thinking, I might as well enjoy the sunshine even though I still wanting to get her inside.

Camber can be easily distracted and she was. I guess she thought saying hello to the mail lady was more important than being obedient to me. I called her and called her. She would not come. Kept thinking to myself, I wish the mail lady would hurry up and go. I just knew that Camber was going to go out on that road in the font of our house. It is dangerous road with a lot of rushing cars. The mail lady finally left and again I called out to Camber to come back. You see, Camber is quick. The closer I would try to get to her, the more she would run away. Maybe she thought it was a game or maybe she just wanted to do her own thing and enjoy the outdoors. That is not what I wanted. Here she was standing in the middle of a busy road. I am calling her and getting very frustrated by each passing moment. I wasn’t going to run through the snow with my slippers on so I had to go into the house to get my boots on. By this point, I have just about had it with her, thinking boy is she going to get it when I get my hands on her. While I was getting my boots on, I heard a loud honk. . . . My heart was in my throat thinking oh no! Quickly the boots were on and out the door I went running down the driveway after my disobedient pup. There she stood looking at me with defiance as again I called, “Camber come!” There she stood looking at me as if to say, “I’m not coming. I am going to do what I want to do.” It was as if I could see it come before it happened. A truck was speeding down the road and Camber was standing in the middle of the road and then there was a thud. . . I watched the truck hit her in the rump, spinning her off into the ditch and there was nothing I could do about it. I ran down the road to Camber thinking that surely she would be dead. The truck that hit her was 100 yards up the road. I don’t think he was planning on coming back until he saw me running down the road. He finally backed up his truck to see how the dog was. In the time it took me to give the driver of the truck the what for - Camber got up, ran away and hid.

Again, I searched for her and called her name, hoping I would find her. I was very distraught with worry. My neighbour saw my distress and came outside to help me search. I phoned Danny to come home from work as I was frantic. I searched and searched and called and whistled. She was nowhere to be found. My fear was that we would find her dead. When Danny arrived home, he called Camber and she finally came out of hiding. To our surprise she was fine, nothing broken; she was absolutely fine. Danny said "that all the way home he had prayed that Camber would be alright." We thanked God that she was fine. I would like to tell you that we have since found the balance with our Camber but we have not. We still struggle. She is still disobedient.

The other day I was once again walking with Camber and Axsel in our Garden of Eden that is out back of our house. I was praying and praising the Lord. I also asked for the Holy Spirit to help me to write something inspiring. After praying, it was time to walk back to the house. I called Camber and she would not come. My first thought was, Oh no, not again.

Instantly my thoughts opened up. It just became so clear to me what I was to write about. It was like God said to me, “See how disobedient Camber is and how that makes you feel. My children are disobedient to me all the time. I love them, I call them all the time, but they just ignore my voice and keep doing what they want to do. I try to direct their paths in right ways, they stand in the middle of the road and ignore me and choose the road they want to travel. How do you think it makes me feel? I have to let them go, even though I know that the road they have chosen leads to heartbreak, sickness and for some even death. I give them signs to help them go the right way, but they ignore my signs.”

I thought wow, I get it Lord. Whenever we make decisions it may be helpful to ask ourselves these questions: Am I being obedient to God my Father? How do my decisions line up with God’s word (bible)? What would Jesus want me to do? What would He do? How does my decision affect the way God may feel? Knowing that God is calling me away from a situation that may be harmful to my health or even to my eternal destiny, will I answer His call or will I be disobedient?

Camber’s choice to be disobedient had its consequence. She felt the blow. For what ever reason, she was given another chance. Sometimes God gives seconds chances. Sometimes He doesn’t. Last question - What if today was my last chance to be obedient to God or to receive Christ’s invitation, His gift of eternal life, salvation and redemption from all the times that I’ve sinned or turned away, would I draw closer to God - to Christ Jesus – the Lord of Lords and King of Kings – the Son of God? Or will I stand in the middle of the road, look at God and say, “Thanks, but no thanks – not right now. I want to do it my way for a little while longer. Maybe later I’ll return to you.”

1 John 3:28 “And now, dear children, remain in fellowship with Christ so that when he returns, you will be full of courage and not shrink back from him in shame. 29 Since we know that Christ is righteous, we also know that all who do what is right are God’s children.”

Hebrews 2: 1-4 “So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it. For the message God delivered through angels has always stood firm, and every violation of the law and every act of disobedience was punished. So what makes us think we can escape if we ignore this great salvation that was first announced by the Lord Jesus himself and then delivered to us by those who heard him speak? And God confirmed the message by giving signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit whenever he chose.”

May the Lord add His blessing to these scripture verses we just read.