Did you know that different breeds of dogs were bred to do different jobs?
Collie
Bred to help corral and protect animals, such as sheep and goats.
Pug
Bred in China for companionship (to be our friend).
St. Bernard
Bred for search and rescue in the Swiss Alps.
Yorkshire Terrier
Bred for vermin (rat) control in warehouses and workshops.
Bloodhound
Bred as tracking dogs for deer and wild boar; now they are used in law enforcement.
Anatolian Shepherd
Bred to be companions to human shepherds; now they are used as guard dogs.
$$ If you were a dog, what kind of job would you want? Email me your answer for a T-Bone Buck. $$
God has a job for us and he is making us for that purpose
Our third lesson in The Dog Pound comes from Romans 12:3.
For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.
There are a couple of things we can sniff out of this verse:
Paul's phrase "by the grace given me" really means something. Remember who Paul was... a man named Saul who used to authorize the deaths of Christians. When he met Jesus he had a major life change and became a mighty force for Jesus and his kingdom... but I imagine he still remembered with shame what his life was like as a non-believer.
When you read other things that Paul wrote you can imagine that he was a person who was proud of his heritage, his education, his position in society. Even after he became a Christian it is easy to get a sense of the pride Paul felt in himself, and struggled with. His words "do not think of yourself more highly than you ought" may have been written as much as a reminder to himself as they were to the people in Philippi.
When we "think of yourself with sober judgment" we are thinking about what we are doing, thinking and wanting in light of God's desire for our lives. Does God want me to spend all my birthday money on candy? Should I drink a 2 liter of Mt Dew all at once on a dare? Should I take money out of Dad's wallet? Everything we do should be done with an eye and ear for God's will for our life. This is just as difficult at 45 as it is at 12 but we can do it!
The final nugget of wisdom we can get from our verse is "in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you". God is preparing us for different jobs in his Kingdom. These are different than the jobs we do to earn a living. God gifts us with skills, passions and abilities to help grow his Kingdom. We'll talk more about these over the next couple of weeks.
Now for the fun stuff
Fun facts about dogs
1. Dogs noses are wet to help absorb scent chemicals
2. Newfoundlands are amazing lifeguards
3. The Beatles song ‘A Day in the Life’ has a frequency only dogs can hear
4. Three dogs survived the Titanic sinking
5. A Bloodhound’s sense of smell can be used as evidence in court
6. The tallest dog in the world is 44 inches tall
7. Basenji dogs don’t bark, they yodel
8. A Greyhound could beat a Cheetah in a long distance race
9. A blind man and his guide dog hiked the Appalachian Trail
10. The Ewoks in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi were based on a dog
11. 30% of Dalmatians are deaf in one ear
12. The Saluki is the oldest dog breed
13. Chow Chows and Shar-Peis have black tongues
14. Dogs have three eyelids
15. The African Hunting dog is the most successful hunter in the world
(https://www.purina.co.uk/dogs/behaviour-and-training/understanding-dog-behaviours/amazing-dog-facts)
Joke of the week
A lost dog strays into a jungle. A lion sees this from a distance and says with caution, “This guy looks edible, I’ve never seen his kind before.”
So the lion starts rushing towards the dog with menace. The dog notices and starts to panic, but as he’s about to run, he sees some bones next to him and gets an idea. He says loudly, “Mmm…that was some good lion meat!”
The lion abruptly stops and says, “Woah! This guy seems tougher then he looks, I better leave while I can.” Over by the tree top, a monkey witnessed everything. Evidently, the monkey realizes the he can benefit from this situation by telling the lion and getting something in return. So the monkey proceeds to tell the lion what really happened. The lion says angrily, “Get on my back, we’ll get him together.” And they start rushing back to the dog.
The dog sees them and realized what happened, starting to panic even more. He then gets another idea and shouts,
“Where is that monkey! I told him to bring me another lion an hour ago…”