On Sunday, June 21, 2009
As I arrived at church for Sunday school, I stopped to pick up the paper that had been thrown out at the end of the driveway. The church is located near a lake, so the church driveway doubles as a fishers’ parking space.
Picking up paper was not an unusual thing for me. Where we live, it is almost customary to pick up a piece thrown out daily or use to be anyway. To keep from being furious about it, I turned it into a ministry and was thankful that I could bend over (now I have one of those grippers, no bending required). With every piece of paper I pick up, I pray for every hand that has touched it. I make it a point of contact for a soul being drawn into the kingdom and pray that they will have the same boldness to spread the gospel as they do spreading paper. What I’ve found over the years is that I’m picking up less paper. In my mind, I think the devil doesn’t want any paper thrown out around our house anymore.
Well, after leaving the church, I got to the end of the driveway, and what did I see. You hit the nail on the head “Paper,” lots of paper. Again, I decided to stop and pick up the paper. As I was picking up the paper, I noticed a dog going in the opposite direction. Immediately you think that there must have been some food thrown out also. Another thought is whether or not this is an aggressive or friendly dog. I decided to continue picking up the paper, and the dog seemed to be minding its own business.
As I continued my paper retrieval, the dog started back in my direction, and I determined that it was a bulldog. As she got near, her friendly little tail was in the air, just a wagging. I was able to see that she was missing an eye. It was no longer in the socket, and she appeared to be very thirsty and had also missed a few meals. She was in desperate need of grooming. I decided that I would not leave her without getting her some water, and there was a store nearby where I could get some food.
I went back to the church to find something that I could put water in. When I got back down to the road, I didn’t see the dog, but you know what I saw, another piece of paper. I pulled over to get the paper, and then the dog started coming near me again. I held the water down near her mouth to drink, and it seemed as if she was somewhat uninterested. I kept holding it under her mouth, and finally, her tongue, which was hanging out of obvious thirst, hit the water, and she started lapping it up. Then she lost the water pail again, and I repositioned it, and she hit it again. I then realized that she was unable to see or had very poor vision. She was still sticking her tongue out as if to drink but could not find the water. By this time, my heart was really touched, and I began to pour a little water on her tongue, and she continued to drink.
Then I heard a voice speak to me and say, I’ve got some people out there, and they are blind and can’t see, but they are thirsty and need some water to drink (living water). He said, “I’ve got them behind a guardrail so they won’t get hurt until you can get to them.” The dog had kept walking into the rail as if to go out into the highway, but the rail prevented her from doing so. Now I understand why.
How many of us have wondered aimlessly in the wilderness of life, thirsty but not knowing what we were thirsty for and God shielded and protected us until He could get us to taste of Him and see that He is good.
I called 911 and asked if they could send animal control to pick up the dog. The dispatcher said they probably wouldn’t get her today, but she’d ask a deputy to check her out.
I felt led to share this story and my wife confirmed it. I pray that the Holy Spirit would use it in some way to speak to your heart as he did mine.
Blessings! Chalton