I Live In A Zoo

Several times a day I find myself asking the following question: Why do I have pets? As I am writing this my cats, Sydney and Spencer, are sitting right next to the laptop watching every keystroke. I’m not sure where Hank (our chocolate lab) is, but I imagine he is doing something he shouldn’t. Laying on the couch, eating the remote control, or searching for Angie’s Bigfoot house shoes.

Sydney and Spencer couldn’t be more different, but amazingly they are both equally annoying. Sydney is the “smaller one” (although she isn’t all that small) and she likes to be in the middle of everything. She follows us around the house constantly, and she has convinced herself that every time we sit on the couch she has an open invitation to our laps. If we don’t pet her just the way she wants, she has no qualms about letting us know, usually in the form of high-pitched meow screams that are too terrible to describe in mere words. Sydney is not afraid of Hank in the least and she constantly lets him know by swatting his nose when he walks by. That never gets old. Sydney has become a master at getting Hank in trouble, and she is constantly pushing various items off of the counter onto the floor so Hank will pick them up and commence destruction. It took us awhile to figure out how Hank was getting all these things, and then one day I caught her in the act. That darn cat.

Then there is Spencer. What can I say about Spencer? Whenever people first lay eyes on him they always say something like, “That’s the biggest cat I’ve ever seen!”, and rightly so since Spencer is about the size of a baby rhinoceros. There is only one word to properly describe him: huge. Not only is he tall, but he is extremely fat and weighs close to 20lbs. (Yeah, I know. We’re horrible pet owners). Spencer doesn’t have a social bone in his enormous body and prefers to be left alone. He spends about 22 hours a day on our bed and the other 2 he spends eating. Spencer is only passionate about one thing in his life, and that would be his hatred for Hank. Oh how he hates Hank. I think since Hank was a puppy he has been confused by Spencer’s size, and he believes Spencer must be another dog. As a result, Hank tries to play with Spencer every chance he gets, and man what a show. We should sell tickets to it.

Having three pets in the house has incredible benefits: smelly cat litter, massive amounts of hair piled up in every corner, astronomical vet bills (don’t even get me started), and a backyard full of dog bombs. So why do we do it? Why do we run a zoo? Usually about the time I ask that question Hank comes over and lays his head in my lap, or Sydney curls up beside me, or even occasionally Spencer will climb up and attempt to smother me with his love. What can I say..I guess I’m just a sucker.

 

Lessons From The Lab

For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure, I’d like you to meet Hank. Hank is our Chocolate Lab and he is 2 and a half years old. I have countless stories about Hank and from time to time I figured I could share with you some Lessons From The Lab. Where do I begin?

If you know anything about Labs (especially young ones), one word that describes them is hyper. Hank is no exception and he has done a superb job of raising the hyper standard for fellow Labs worldwide. He’s the sweetest dog you’ll ever meet, that is, if you don’t mind 95 pound dogs who like to tackle you when you walk in the room. He’s not mean or nasty, he just really wants to be loved. Make no mistake, if you come to our house you have come to see Hank. He’s convinced of it. Oddly enough, not once do I remember anyone saying after meeting our wonderful dog, “Man, I really need to get one of those.” I really don’t see why. I mean come on….look at that picture….isn’t he cute?

Hank is really a pretty good dog, and he is very smart. When he is just laying around the house with us, he minds pretty well and he has learned what he can and can’t do. We went through several remote controls, cell phones, flip-flops, and pillows before he finally learned what his toys were. Now he pretty much sticks with his various toys that are scattered throughout the house, and if you ever come over he will show you each and everyone. We are still trying to convince him that the cats are not toys, and I think we are making progress. But Hank has one major weakness…..Angie’s furry Bigfoot house shoes. For some reason, when Hanks sees those obnoxious house shoes, he loses all control and he has to have them, even if they happen to be on Angie’s feet. No longer do the words, “No!” or “Leave it!” hold any power over him. As a result, we’ve had to keep the Bigfeet away from him, hidden in the closet. Whenever he gets a chance he sneaks in our room and finds them. Awhile back my Mom came over to the house to let him out since we were going to be gone all day. When we returned she called and was telling me how much Hank loved that big furry toy of his. At first, I had no idea which toy she meant and then I realized that Hank had pulled a fast one on Gram. He just couldn’t resist.

As ridiculous as Hank’s obsession with Bigfoot house shoes is, it reminds me of how Satan works. As we go through life we learn what we can and can’t do. We learn what things are OK and what things we need to stay away from. But so many times, there is that one thing that we can’t resist. It may seem small and harmless, but deep down we know we should avoid it. Satan is the master of finding out what that one thing is, and using it to draw us away from God and deeper into sin. He dangles it in front of us over and over again until we bite, and when we do we suddenly forget about what’s right and what’s wrong. All we care about is the moment.

Satan wants nothing more than for us to take our focus off of Christ. He doesn’t care where or focus is as long as it’s not on Jesus, and he will do anything to distract us. We need to be alert and ready at all times so we don’t fall into temptation. The only way to be ready is to be truly focused on Christ and His Word. Where’s your focus?

I Peter 5:8-9

8 Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. NIV