Most of you are like me and struggle to try again after a disappointment or frustration. Today's post is a funny look at perseverance in the face of adversity. Read on.
Ghost Dog
Do not rejoice over me, oh my enemy, for though I fall I
will rise again. Though I sit in darkness the Lord will be my light. Micah 7:8
My friend had a grandfather who was
a genuine mountain man, complete with moonshine and shotguns. He also had a
hound dog named Gus. Gus was a good dog but he had two faults. He was an “egg-sucker”
and he would fall down and play dead when he heard a shot gun. He decided that
these traits wouldn’t do in a mountain dog and was going to put the dog down.
The children liked Gus and the set out to be his angels of mercy. While Grandpa
was refiling his moonshine, the kids snuck in and replaced the shells in the
shotgun with blanks. Grandpa went out and dug a shallow grave, and then took
the shotgun and the dog out to the clearing. He fired the blanks and down went
Gus. Grandpa buried him in the shallow grave and then came back to the kitchen
and sat down with his jug. In a few minutes he heard a scratch at the door, and
looked up to see Gus standing at the door with his tongue hanging out! He let
loose with a string of colorful mountain words and said to the dog, “I could
have sworn I just shot you.” Again he took the dog and the shot gun. Again he shot the dog with the blanks and
buried him. Then he stomped back to the house and sat down in the living room.
He stole looks at the door and sure enough, in a few minutes Gus was back. Now
his language was not only colorful but downright psychedelic! The children were hiding behind the door
laughing hysterically. He took the dog to the clearing a third time and fired
the gun. Gus went down and back into the grave. When Grandpa got back to the
house, Grandma decided he had had enough moonshine and gave him a beer and a
bowl of peas to shell. He sat on the back porch with his peas, his beer, and
his gun. Looking out toward the grave,
he told the dog, “If you come back this time, I ain’t gonna shoot you
now or never. You deserve to live.” Lo and behold, he saw Gus’s front feet and
then his snout poke out of the grave. As the dog came toward him with his tail
wagging happily, Grandpa picked up the
gun and slammed it on the porch breaking it. Gus lived a long and happy life
and was buried 15 years later in the
same shallow grave.
Sometimes we feel like life has got
us down. It may be a prayer that has not been answered even though you have
prayed it as long as you can remember. It
could be a habit or stronghold that you can’t seem to overcome. Today I realized that I had a resentment that
was clouding my judgment and nurturing a root of bitterness( Ephesian 4:31),
even though I thought I had conquered it. Sometimes when we have fallen either because
of sin or just because of circumstances, we just want to lay there and not try
again. We may feel like poor old Gus, tossed in the grave over and over.God has
a lot to say about this. In Romans 8:37 he declares that we are more than
conquerors through him who loved us. One of my favorite verses is Isaiah 41:10.
So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I
will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Another is Micah 7:8, Do not
rejoice over me, oh my enemy, for though I fall I will rise again. Though I sit
in darkness the Lord will be my light. One thing we must be careful of is to
realize why we are more than conquerors and why we can rise again. In each of
these verses and many, many more, It is because of God and his grace and his
power. I can “suck it up” and power through in my own strength. The result is fleeting
and flawed, like the difference between real and plastic fruit.
This week let’s make a commitment
to persevere in God and his strength. We can overcome and try again and we can
give others the encouragement they need to do the same.
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