In the 22nd chapter of the book of Numbers, there is an interesting story of God using a donkey to speak to Baalam.
\nSometimes it takes those odd situations to really wake us up to what God wants to tell us.
\nA few weeks ago I told you of the theological lesson I learned from George Carlin (Isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it just stuff?). I thought that was a little weird, but then I learned a few more lessons this past week from the coolest pup in the world, Payton.
\nOK so maybe he isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really a puppy anymore. He might jump and run around like a hyper puppy, but his size doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t match up anymore.
\nAnyways, a week or so ago, I was out taking Payton – the Coolest Dog in the World, out for a walk around Belton.
\nNow Payton\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a well behaved dog when he wants to be, or when he knows he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s about to get a swat on the nose, but there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s other times where he just wants to run and do his own thing.
\nUnfortunately for me, this was one of those times.
\nWith his harness on, I led him down Wall Street and 7th Street and Main Street and elsewhere.
\nKnowing he was harnessed and on a short leash, Payton – the Coolest Dog in the World, continued to do everything he could to break free from my grip. All he cared about was taking off after the latest smell that caught his attention.
\nI knew that if he got away something horrible could happen, especially as he tried to chase every car passing on Main Street.
\nIt struck me then how similar Payton and I are.
\nNow I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t necessarily think of myself on a short leash, but I do think of God walking beside me and guiding me every step of the way and yet I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m still ready to chase after anything that catches my fancy.
\nI want to chase the things of the world that can hurt and lead me down the wrong path, yet God holds on tight while He watches and guides me.
\nAnother lesson I learned from Payton – the Coolest Dog in the World, came Friday night after I moved into my new house.
\nI had the crazy idea to start house- training Payton, now that I had a house of my own and didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have to worry about an upset landlord.
\nFirst off, bad idea.
\nPayton\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s too big and too hyper to be a house dog.
\nAnd as I mentioned before, he loves to run and chase after anything that catches his fancy, so the moment the front door was open, out he went.
\nNo rules or boundaries for this dog.
\nHe was gonna have fun scouting out the new neighborhood.
\nAs much as I wanted to chase him down in the sprinkling rain, I chose not to.
\nI decided to let him venture out on his own and let him find his way home.
\nI left the front door open and went about my business.
\nAbout 20 minutes later, after he apparently took a swim in Nolan Creek, Payton – the Coolest Dog in the World, came walking back in the front door like nothing had happened.
\nAnd I just loved on him and dried him off before telling him to stay off the furniture.
\nIt reminded of another Biblical story, the story of the prodigal son.
\nJesus tells the parable of a rich man with two sons.
\nTwo sons he loved dearly and planned to give his entire inheritance to.
\nOne day the younger son came to his father and asked for his estate.
\nI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure the father wanted to hold on to his son with a very short leash and keep him from harm, but he divided up the inheritance and sent the youngest son on his way.
\nThe son lived life as he pleased, chasing after everything that caught his eye.
\nBefore long, he ended up living with and feeding a farmer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pigs and wanted to go home.
\nSo he returned home seeking his father\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s forgiveness, hoping he could find better work by working for his father.
\nBut to his surprise, his father didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t scold him or belittle him. He welcomed him with arms wide open.
\nI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure glad Jesus told that story and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m glad Payton reminded me of it.
\nNo matter what I do and no matter how far I stray from God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hand, His arms and His door is always open.
\nHe doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make me clean myself up. He does that for me. All I have to do is come home and let the Master of the House clean off the dirt and filth I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve collected along the way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the 22nd chapter of the book of Numbers, there is an interesting story of God using a donkey to speak to Baalam. Sometimes it takes those odd situations to really wake us up to what God wants to tell us. A few weeks ago I told you of the theological lesson I learned from … Continue reading If God Can Use Donkey<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2090],"tags":[2088,2089,2092],"class_list":["post-28","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-columns-reflections","tag-belton-journal","tag-columns","tag-newspaper"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pEnSo-s","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}