Anecdotes from Out Here

When I go into the town of Bangs for some piddly little thing like a soda or a cup of coffee or just to drive around, I go by this one house where they've got a bunch of dogs.

Normally the dogs are all up on and under the porch but when they hear my old truck rattling down the road they get all excited. Suddenly I look off to the right and I see a pack of indeterminate breed dogs heading down to the road to cut me off. They run alongside my truck for a little while barking furiously. If Sam (my sheepdog) is with me then he returns the barks with zeal. About a quarter mile down the road though even the most enthusiastic of truck-chasers has given up and I can see in my rearview mirror a lot of happy dogs standing around giving each other the doggie equivalent of a high-five. They then wait out by the road for the next twenty minutes or so until I return and go back the other way and the process repeats itself. (There's not a lot of traffic on this road so I'm really the highpoint of the day.)

I often wonder what they would do if I stopped the truck and let them catch me. They've probably been chasing trucks for years and have never caught one. Would it be an all-out celebration or would they stand around all confused?

It's in our nature to pursue things we can't (or shouldn't) have and to pursue them with zeal. Though our minds are fixed firmly on the object of our desire, we wouldn't know what to do if we actually acquired it. Perhaps it is a sign of Christian maturity if we can learn to stay on the porch and let the rattling, noisy things of the world pass us by without discomfort. There is surely better ways to spend our energies in the service of the Lord.