Sam

"I have good news and bad news,"  Gordon announced as he came in our front door.  Gordon was our youth minister and had been living with us for a couple of months after the earthquake destroyed his house.  "I have found a place to live (that was the good news) and I'm taking the dog with me (that was the bad news)."

My response was "No you are not.  I feed the dog.  I trained the dog. I took him to the vet,  I even named the dog.  The dog stays!"

I thought of this episode in my life when I asserted my rights of ownership as I read Deuteronomy 15:1-11.  What a great system of economics God had planned for the Israelites.   Every 7 years debts were cancelled.  He warned not to be a stingy lender thinking ahead to losing the repayment to the seventh year debt cancellation.  God promised that the new  land would be a land of plenty.  Israel would not borrow from other nations but lend to other nations.  He promised blessings on all their work when they give generously, without grudging.  He commanded them to be open-handed with the poor and needy.

Sam was the dog in dispute.  He grew to be a large lovable animal that Dick and Gordon found as a puppy a few days after the earthquake as a stray.  They thought he was cute and they were being cute when they dropped by my office to show him off.  I warned them, "Don't bring the dog home."  I knew what would happen--I'd fall in love with him and not let him leave.  So when Gordon claimed ownership of Sam, I quickly asserted my list of claims as Sam's rightful owner.

Perhaps that's why we never operate under God's plan for economics as set out in Deuteronomy--we love our things and wealth too much.  We love want we think we own and have a right to keep. 

These verses remind me that we are

to trust God for His provision;

to give generously to remind ourselves that God gave generously to us and

to be an example, to show how much God loves by being generous and open-handed.

It's about God's generosity, not my rights.  It's about God's reputation, not mine.  It's about trusting God for providing, not my ability to provide.

The next morning Gordon came out of his room with a decision.  We had ended our discussion without a resolution.  We both were upset.

"You can keep the dog."  Gordon said.  "Oh, did you pray about it?"  I asked because it was what we both should of done in the beginning.  Gordon was a very godly man at age 22.  He always challenged me to grow spiritually with the daily question, "What has God taught you today?

I expected a God-given revelation to resolve the future of Sam. 

"No"  Gordon confessed. "Sam threw up on all my clothes last night!" 

Maybe Sam made his feelings known or God does answer prayer in very strange ways!