The Story of Spoon

My husband, Joe, has a Border Collie named Spoon that is a goat herder. He lived in a pen by himself, but next to one of our son's show goats.

Spoon got plenty of exercise, running with my husband often, plus herding the goats from time to time, but lately Spoon had been getting out of his pen and coming to the house to visit.

A few weeks ago, Spoon got out and ran to over to a field that has some of our older goats, plus two Great Pyrenees goat dogs, named Ranger and Chow. Also in that field is a neighbors' horse!

So now Spoon lives with the two other dogs, two old goats, and a horse that is visiting for a while. What a neat blended family!

This story makes me smile!  The thought that Spoon wanted to live somewhere else is so interesting to me!  Spoon didn't ever live with those other goats, or the other dogs, or the horse.  But the really interesting thing is that from his pen, he couldn't even see that field!  Maybe when he got out he saw it. Maybe that's how he became interested in that other field.  Maybe he knew that was where he belonged.  It just felt right.

Now, I'm not saying if you are feeling like something is wrong in your home you should leave! Not at all!  But, let's make a spiritual application to Spoon's story.

We can think of the big, open field as the church.  The church is world-wide, established on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2.  Many spend their lives searching and searching for something, yet they don't know what.  They are searching for God....for Jesus.  They want to belong to Him, but they just may not yet realize it.  When they do, they are added, by Him, to the church.  When one gives their life to Jesus, follows God with their whole heart, and becomes a part of the church, he/she feels at home, at peace, and content.

Spoon is content, apparently.  He could choose to leave.  He could go anywhere he wanted to go, and we wouldn't be able to stop him.  But most likely he won't.  Apparently he loves his home.  He didn't feel comfortable in his own life. He wanted a new life.  He has new friends.  Not friends that look just like him, but friends who apparently 'love' him and accept him, as well.

That's what the Lord's church is designed to be like, as well.  A home for forgiven sinners, who love each other, who love the church.  The new Christian has a new life.  The new Christian has a new family - their brothers and sisters in Christ.  And he/she feels comfortable because they are surrounded by that new family and because they are in a close relationship with their Heavenly Father and their Savior.

THAT story makes me smile! :)

We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sinmight be done away with,^[a] that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.

 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 

Romans 6:2-8

Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.
1 Peter 1:21-23

Natural Instinct

This is one of our goat dogs.  I'm not sure if he has a name.  He's happy and content laying around on our lush green grass - right by the road that's on the side of our house.  I'm sure people wonder why he is there - in fact we wonder why he stays there.  He's actually supposed to be "in" the goat pen with the goats, but many months ago - last summer, actually - my husband moved some of the goats from the small field to another field near by.  When he went back to get the dog, he was gone.  He had left trying to go where he was supposed to be.  That natural God-given instinct kicked in and the dog knew he had to leave his regular pen and care for the goats in another pen, too.

Time went on and July 4th came around.  The dog had been going back and forth between the two fields of goats - one across the street and a little ways north.  The other behind our house. The celebration fireworks scared the dog and he ended up getting back in his original pen - at least for a while. A storm came and he jumped back out!

During this whole time my husband has tried to catch the dog, but he wouldn't come to him or anyone (and still doesn't), except one neighbor lady.  She can talk to him and even pet him, but he doesn't stay there long, either.  It's like he knows if he stays anywhere, he'll be caught. My husband had a few others try to catch him and one guy did, eventually, but the dog jumped the fence (a high fence) and got out.  It's just that natural instinct that tells him he's got to be with those goats - and all of them in two different pens!

The dog looks thin and malnourished.  I know people wonder about him.  We put food out.  He has access to water in the goat pens and when we water the grass (which is daily).  He probably scares people that walk down that road, though they would scare him more!  He'll bark occasionally, but not too much.  He's a goat guard dog.  That's his job.  He's doing just what he is supposed to be doing - just in his own unique way!

Think about your own life.....
What are you doing?  What kind of natural instinct do you have?  We were all created in the image of God, so our natural instinct should be to love Him and to serve Him, but the world sometimes gets in the way and our instinct gets skewed.  As a mom, I have a natural instinct to care for my family.  It's an instinct given by God, but if I'm not careful the world can mess that up, too.  The world will tell me my life is all about what I want and not about serving others - even my family. The world will tell me I must have "me" time - time for entertainment and pleasure at the expense of my husband and children.  Is that what God wants from His children - His creation?

Our goat dog amazes me, really!  I watch him move from our yard, to the back field, then to the further field.  Watching, checking, guarding, protecting.  Kind of sounds like God, doesn't it?  Except on a much higher scale and with a whole world of people?  God is there watching us, checking on us, guarding us, and protecting us.  I like that natural instinct, don't you?

(Note:  With goat dogs, supposedly the owner isn't supposed to "make friends" or they won't be good goat dogs.  But, since this situation - where my husband can't get near the dog - he's decided to make friends with the new puppy we have that will be another goat dog...for another field.  Right now he's  living in the back yard with our family dog and happy as can be! :)