Well, we have a new family member in the McKnight household… meet Penny. It’s been almost one year to the day since we had to say goodbye to our beloved Molly, and the timing finally seemed right. Penny is just 10 weeks old. She’s a little goober! I mean tiny!
It’s been quite a while since we had a puppy in the family, and I realized this week that I have forgotten much about the experience. Penny is a bundle of energy… or a blob of unconscious fur — there is no in between! One moment she is scampering about the house attacking evil crocodiles — stuffed ones of course — or assaulting my sock covered feet, and the next she is crashed in a puppy power nap.
She chews way more than it seems she should (just check out my hands and arms — that little spud has some demon teeth) and pees way more than she should. If she suddenly determines that she is alone, she will tip her head back and give the most mournful howl of despair that you have ever heard — even if I am sitting just 10 feet away.
She’s a smart little thing too. Already she comes when I whistle — it probably helps that I gave her potato chips when she would come. She is learning her name… she sits when told, to get her good-behavior treat, and she even will retrieve a ball and bring it back already. And everything is a new adventure. Stairs, sticks, balls, blankets… you name it… it’s new and a possible adventure. The world holds so much for Penny to discover and learn, and I find I am admiring her curiosity.
So, today I am pondering… can you think back to when you were a puppy… uh… check that… a new believer in Jesus? For some of us that might be decades ago and for others maybe not long ago at all, but can you remember what it was like when you first placed your faith in Jesus?
If your experience was like mine, everything was an adventure! While I technically became a Christian at 5 years old, it was my teenage years where I finally understood what faith in Christ meant. Just who was God and what was He like? What did He desire for my life? How could I serve Him? What plans did He have for me? Just what would Heaven be like? Ah, so many good questions and many opportunities to learn.
I had so many healthy influences in my life to help me discover the wonderful truths found in Christ. My parents, an active youth ministry, a wonderful youth pastor for a role model, a church that taught the Bible, friends who loved God and wanted to live for Him. And I was hungry to learn.
I imagine there will come a day when everything will no longer be an adventure to Penny. Experience will replace wonder. Knowledge will trump adventure. And life will become a routine. It happens to the best of us.
Oh, but may that never be true of my life with Christ! I want to have times to ponder who God is and what He is like. I never want to stop seeking what He desires for my life. I don’t want to miss opportunities to serve Him. I want to seek the plans that He has for my life. And Heaven… I want to day dream of Heaven.
A Keith Green song says… My eyes are dry. My faith is old. My heart is hard. My prayers are cold. And I know how I ought to be. Alive to You and dead to me. Oh, what can be done for an old heart like mine? Soften it up with oil and wine. The oil is You, Your Spirit of love. Please wash me anew in the wine of Your blood.
I won’t even pretend that the words of that song have never been true of me… but I don’t want them to be! I want to have the wonder of Penny discovering the world as I live out my faith in Christ. How about you? And pray for us… you know the chewing… and the peeing.
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