That Dead Dog

A few weeks ago, I did something I had never done.

I killed a dog.

I was driving to class from Anderson and for once I was driving the speed limit. That is simply because I had a test waiting for me when I arrived to campus and I hadn't studied much. There's this stretch of road on the way back to Clemson that has three quick blind turns. I, still driving the speed limit, make it through the first two turns, but on the third I nail this poor dog. You see, the owner of the dog had brought the dog to the dump, like she had many other times, but this time was different, obviously. This time, the adventure seeking pup had jumped out of the owner's car, leaping and bonding for fun across the highway.

The little dude didn't even see me coming.

I couldn't steer the car out of the way, and the little guy couldn't make up his mind which side of the road he wanted to lift his back leg on. The end result was me plowing into this poor little dog while his owner just watched in disbelief. I immediately pulled over and rushed back to the poor animal. But he was dead upon impact.

Now, I realize this is a dog. A small animal. Pointless really, in the grand scheme of life. But, I felt horrible about killing him. What bothered me wasn't the fact that I had never killed an animal or seen blood that deep shade of red before, nor in that quantity. What bothered me was picking up this lifeless animal, who seconds prior had been filled with life, and having to place him in his owner's car. What bothered me was the owner telling me she had to go home and tell her three young children that their first pet had been hit by a car. What bothered me, were her tears, her grief, and the hurt her children would feel later that evening with their first experience of death. What bothered me was life being taken.

The dog owner was very kind and understanding. She didn't blame me. She didn't utter one harsh word to me. She and I both knew that it wasn't my fault. That the dog made a few bad decisions, jumped out of a moving car into traffic, and couldn't decide what side of the street he wanted to be on.

Jesus spoke to me as soon as I got back into my car.

How many of us are like this dog? How many of us can't figure out what side of Jesus Street to play on - with Him or without Him?

The Holy Spirit moved me quickly to the thought of how precious life is. Yes, it was just a dog, but are we not like him? We act without thinking and we do so in much more serious situations. We think of life as a constant - a continuum that will be there tomorrow. We honestly take life for granted. We could easily be living life one moment and suddenly, in a split second's time, be lifeless, dead, gone. If that were you, if you were suddenly struck down and death took hold of you, what would happen? Would your soul do whatever souls do when they lift to Heaven, or would it dive down to Hell? Do you even believe in a Heaven or Hell? Do you place your trust in God, His Son, His mercy, forgiveness, and freedom?

Or do you believe all to be zealotry acts? That life is meaningless. That life, though precious, has no purpose, nothing at the end of the tunnel. Simply, that the life you live is as good as it gets and that you are in complete control.

We could agree on one thing, that people are bad, do horrible deeds, make harmful decisions, and are selfish. Some people call this sin, but others may call it human nature. I would call it both.

Something we need to realize about sin and imperfection in our lives is that Sin must be paid for. Either we accept God and His son's gift, that Jesus has already died for our imperfection - for our lies, our gossip, our porn addictions, our lustful thoughts, our murderous deeds, our thievery, our unbelief our deceit. OR we deny Jesus, we ignore Him beating at our hearts, and we pay for our own sin by going to Hell, for eternity.

Its that simple. Its that cut-n-dry.

I read these verses a few hours before I struck the small naive dog.

"He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed." 1 Peter 2:24

"For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit." 1 Peter 3:18

We are always going to be like that dog. We are always going to make stupid and harmful decisions. We are always going to sin. We will always have naivety, while under the misconception that we know everything. Again, we are always going to sin, it's our nature. However, the one decision and confession that we can make is that of Jesus being the ruler of life. But not just life as a whole, but our individual lives. Accepting that He died for us; that He died for our - for my, for your - sins. But Jesus didn't just die for us. Three days later He rose, conquering death, and He now reigns continuously.

At one point or another, we are going to be that dog. We are going to die. It may come slowly with age or disease, giving us plenty of time to allow a patiently waiting Jesus into our lives. Or death may come suddenly quick with no hint or expectation. Either way sin is paid for.

Do you know what will happen to you when death arrives at your side and creeps in to your body?

Don't be that dead dog. Allow the patient and all-knowing Jesus in. He's ready, He's waiting, and He's willing.

Are you? Are you willing?

Are you willing to open up and receive the best gift available to you. It's honestly difficult to express the weight and power of living life with Jesus, and that's because life with Him is ever changing. Its an experience that can't be put into words. It's just that, an experience. An experience one would feel if we could be a sunrise. Bright and dark colors alike, faded together to make a completely beautiful experience that everyone can see. The light overpowering the dark in an astonishing way.

Life and death are universal. Both are going to take place. We can't control life any better then we can control death. We can, however, control some actions, some decisions. We can choose to let Jesus, the ruler over life and death, into our lives where He can mold us and shape us into our greatest potential.

Or, we could choose to be that dead dog, wondering aimlessly after every emotional whim.