Scraps (27th Anniversary)

As we continue to celebrate the 27th Anniversary of the Old Lazy Dog Blog this week, today's is another one of my favorites. Hope you enjoy the flashback. 
Keep the Faith - Marty 

The woman came and knelt before him. 
“Lord, help me!” she said.
He replied, “It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs.” 
“Yes, Lord,” she said, “but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table.”
Then Jesus answered, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.
– Matthew 15:25-28 NIV

Last night, as Amy and I sat at the table eating dinner, and the girls sat at the kitchen counter doing the same, something funny caught my eye.

I watched Ginger the Dog make her way from her post by the sunroom windows to a new post squarely on the floor in the middle between all three girls’ chairs. And their she sat… 
Waiting… 
And watching… 
Staring at the floor… 
Ready to scoop up any delicious morsel that might carelessly fall to the floor… 
Her head bent forward looking more like Charlie Brown’s Snoopy playing his vulture role…
Head lurched forward… 
Ears dangling… 
Eyes drooping and focused on what might soon fall 
Looking little like the ball in the mouth Golden Retriever princess that I know and love.

Then I gave Amy a nudge and we both laughed out loud, “She IS a smart dog after all… isn’t she?”

After we got our laugh and resumed our dinner, today’s passage came to mind. And I could imagine that the image of Ginger might be how the lost might feel or be depicted… 
How folks who are hungry and looking for something to fill the empty void in their life might be viewed…
How that void in their heart might be depicted by an artist… 
Just crouched their waiting for some morsel to fall from heaven (or in their mind – “from somewhere”)… 
Willing to try whatever might hit the ground… 
Whatever might be the next new thing… 
To fill that void…
At least for the moment… 
At least at that instance.

And those of us who have already found Jesus, sit on our duffs… 
Perched high in our kitchen counter seats… 
Eating and drinking until we are filled… 
Oblivious to the hurt and the pain that squats on the floor “beneath” us… 
Oblivious to the need that surrounds us.

You see, there are so many folks that we come across in our day to day activities… 
At work… 
At the gym… 
At the bookstore… 
At the coffee shop… 
At the grocery store…
Even at church… 
Who don’t know Jesus… 
Who don’t know how to fill that proverbial hole in their heart. 
And we know the answer… 
We have The Answer… 
But for one reason or another we don’t share the cure… 
Don’t share the morsel…
Don’t share our faith… 
And thus they keep looking… 
Keep searching for what can make them feel better, at least momentarily.

What keeps us from sharing… 
From going therefore and making disciples… 
From being a hypocrite... or a Pharisee... What keeps us from sharing the Bread of Life that a starving world so desperately needs?

What is it that keeps you and me from stepping out in faith…
From living what we say that we believe… 
And sharing with our little part of the world even a morsel of The One who has given us hope… 
And grace… 
And forgiveness… 
And love… 
And life?

Is it Fear?

Ours is not a God of fear.

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” 
– 1 John 4:18 NIV

Keep the Faith... Carpe Diem