Pastor's Page
March 2010
As you may know my son Ian has a Miniature American Eskimo dog named Cerie. He also has a habit of leaving the tiny snow dog with her grandparents – Maggie and me – when he has to go on a music trip. The dog has been with us so many times that she considers our house a home away from home. The cat tolerates her. Maggie and I love her. Even Bobby loves to play with her. So the last time she was with us, I let Bobby take Cerie out for a walk.
Bobby didn’t have much experience with dogs, so I filled him in on the basics. I showed him how to clip the leash on her collar. I told him to hold on with both hands, because Cerie loves to run. And then we opened the front door and they stepped out onto the snowy yard.
As I mentioned before – Cerie is every bit a snow dog – and she loves every chance she gets to play in the snow. I am used to it, and I let her run, dig and even wallow in the banks of snow as we walk together. I outweigh Cerie by a significant amount, and when I pull back on the leash she has no choice but to stop. But when Bobby took the reigns it was a different story.
Cerie bolted out across the snow, pulling Bobby along like a rookie driver at the Iditarod race. Bob pulled back, but he was no match for White Fang and the momentum she created. The dog literally pulled Bobby all the way to the neighbor’s house, where I finally caught up and brought her back under control.
Sometimes life is like that. Things pull us in all different directions, and it feels like we are out of control. Sometimes we are overwhelmed by the momentum created by the urgencies and emergencies of our daily life. What can we do?
What Bobby needed was some bigger and stronger hand to take hold of the reigns. With my help he was no longer pulled here and there. He could walk along and share the leash with me and things would go much better. We need to realize that we cannot handle life by ourselves. We need that bigger and stronger hand to intervene and bring things back under control.
It is hard for some of us to admit. We feel like we should be able to handle the load whether it is our family, our health, our finances or even our spiritual life. The good news is that God is willing and able to step in when we are being pulled the hardest, and give us just what we need. Jesus said that when we let him take over then our burden becomes light. That means that no matter how hard life pulls at us, we can not only stand our ground, but we can move forward in the right direction.
-- Pastor E