Dog! Get Into The Truck 9/5/2015

Good Morning,

Saturday and I couldn't be happier. I needed a break and I have three days off this weekend. What a blessing that is! My thermos was just filled with Door County Jamaican Blue Mountain Blend Coffee. It tastes as good as it smells and it smells great.

Last night our Springer Spaniel Gibbs and I had a battle of wills. This past summer I purchased a 3/4 ton pick up truck to use for hunting. Today I am headed out for a short meeting and a little hunting. I guess I should have started training Gibbs to ride in the new vehicle earlier. Last night I set up a nice spot inside the cab of the truck for his kennel. I opened the door and told Gibbs to "kennel up". He just sat there. Now one other thing he doesn't like and never has is being picked up. I thought to myself "this might be a little too high for him to be jumping in, I will pick him up". Gibbs then proceeded to crawl under the truck and refused to come out. I am not used to any of my dogs being disobedient. What made it worse was that my wife was in the driveway laughing. I heard her mutter "great hunter and his dog" as she continued to cackle. I finally crawled under the truck to flush my dog. He ran and sat next to the Jeep which is lower and I guess his preferred ride.

I decided to try a different tactic. I sat in the truck and motioned for him to come in. He looked around and for some reason he jumped into his kennel and sat their proudly. My wife, laughing even harder now said "he wasn't going to do it unless you did too. He wanted to see you jump in". We went for a ride and all three of us ate some ice cream. When we got home I told Gibbs to wait and I helped him down. That is too long of a jump to get down without eventually hurting something. I asked him to kennel up and he went right back in. No problems!

I pondered this for some time. He had been in larger trucks before. What was the difference? The difference was this. The last large truck he rode in was also occupied by another dog named Sadie. They soon became pretty close on their ride to North Dakota. He saw her get in and knew he could do it too. He wanted to be like the big Labs. Someone had to set the example for Gibbs.

Does the Bible address the idea of leading by example?  Yes it does.

Is there any greater example in all the Bible than Jesus Christ?  Certainly not.  When Jesus was speaking to His disciples shortly before He was to die on the cross He told them “I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.  Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him” (John 13:15-16).  What was it that Jesus had just done? He had just finished washing the disciple’s feet!  Talk about an example of being a servant.  He even washed the feet of the one who would betray Him (Judas).  The disciples should have been the ones that had done this in the first place because usually the one who was the most humble or the lowliest in the home washed the guest’s feet…typically a bond servant. Jesus showed them that even the God-Man could descend to humble Himself to be a servant in the hopes that they should do likewise.

We often tell people what the Bible says about life but we fail to get in there and live as an example of Biblical living to them.

I had to show Gibbs that the new ride was going to take us to all the places we needed to go and that it was just different. We would go together.

Are you a good example to someone? Will they follow you to better places? Would they imitate your good qualities? Would you ask them to do what you won't? Jesus didn't! He washed feet!

Have a blessed day. Someone is watching what you do!

Marty