"All right Mr. De Mille, I'm ready for my close-up…”

Sunday is going to be a very big day in the Higdon household. I announced last Sunday in church that there is going to be a very special guest in church next Sunday for the Children’s Message, and this person has never been to church before. Well, you may have guessed who that person is, Yep, you are right, it’s our dog Odie.

Karen has tried to get me to take Odie to church for one reason or another for over two years now. Each time I asked her if she had any suggestions for the Children’s Message she would respond saying, “Yes, you should take Odie.” It seems that no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t convince her that I needed something more than simply taking the dog with me, I needed some type of theological idea or concept to go along with him.

I also didn’t get much help from my dear friend Roger who would come by the house to let Odie out when he knew that I was out of town and Karen was working late. “When are you gonna bring Odie to church?” he would ask, Oh brother, I just couldn’t win.

Then finally, a couple of weeks ago, I looked at the scripture which I planned to use last week which was from the book of Matthew.

Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession." Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, "Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us." He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel." The woman came and knelt before him. "Lord, help me!" she said. He replied, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs." "Yes, Lord," she said, "but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." Then Jesus answered, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." And her daughter was healed from that very hour.
(Matthew 15:21-28 )

What a great opportunity to bring Odie! I knew just what I could talk to the kids about. The only problem was that I didn’t have the Children’s Message last week. Of course, this fact didn't provide an acceptable excuse for Karen, “Can’t you just do it next week instead?” After a little bit of emotional blackmail, I came to the conclusion that if I knew what was good for me, this will be the Sunday that Odie gets to come to church.

You see Odie loves it when our two year old Grandson Andrew comes to visit. Whenever we eat, Odie is sure to sit as close to Andrew’s feet as he can. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, because Odie loves Andrew and Andrew loves Odie, second is because, lets face it, Andrew is the most likely person to drop something on the floor. And third, Andrew also really loves sharing the food that he has with Odie, and of course Odie likes that as well.

In the scripture, Jesus was so touched by the faith of the woman that he told her that because of her faith, her daughter would be healed. Jesus said that he came first to the Jews, but he certainly didn’t mean that he didn’t love all of God’s people, nor did it mean that he didn’t want to share his love with everyone. So in the spirit of this story, I want to be like the woman and be bold in my faith, but I also want to be like my dog Odie, even though he may know that the meal wasn’t originally prepared especially for him, it doesn’t stop him from participating in it and enjoying it. And just like Odie, I will gladly spend my life just sitting at my Master’s feet, enjoying the crumbs and morsels that fall from the table, and blessing God for the joy of being in Jesus’ presence.

Blessings :)