Three weeks ago (August 12, 2011) I wrote a tribute to our faithful dog, Sadie, and in that I mentioned our, now 7 year old dog, Chloe. Chloe is a Chow/Husky mix that we picked up from the humane society. What first struck us about her, and what strikes most folks when they see her for the first time, is her tongue. It is completely black. This is how we know she has some Chow Chow genes in her blood. But the other striking feature is that her thick coat is white.
When we were trying to come up with names for her I thought maybe it would be fun to name her “Blacky.” I figured the irony of seeing the white dog with a black tongue was obvious, and the irony of such a name would be priceless. However, I quickly realized that that really wouldn’t be a good if she were to get away from us, and we’d be crying out to the world, “Come here Blacky!”
The Humane Society had named her “Clover,” but that didn’t seem to fit. We figured that our children were all named Biblical names, so why not the dog? We named her Chloe, and she’s been a wonderful companion.
Now Chloe is not the smartest of dogs, and at times she can be a bit goofy, but she is the sweetest dog I’ve ever met. I say that not braggingly or from too strong a bias, but she really is sweet. She is always ready to receive and give love, and when visitors come by, unlike Sadie, she doesn’t bark but simply runs to them smiling. Really, she has a sort of smile to her face. But the characteristic of Chloe that is most obviously exhibited in her is that she is subservient.
When I returned with Sadie after her episode of being gone for 9 weeks, I wondered how things would go when they met, though I predicted well what it would be like. Upon getting out of the car Sadie hobbled as quickly to the door as she could, and when she saw Chloe on the other side of the threshold she immediately established dominance. She barked and snapped at Chloe just to make sure Chloe knew who was boss. Chloe cowered in the corner, and for weeks kept her distance.
Though their relationship eventually grew to where they did things together and shared the affection
of the family, Chloe was always the one who placed herself last. When we fed them, Sadie would be the first to eat, and Chloe would stay back. Only after Sadie was finished would Chloe take her turn to eat, and almost always we had to monitor Sadie’s intake. Otherwise she’d have eaten Chloe’s food.
In the “Sadie/Chloe” chapter of our lives, Chloe was the one in the background, rarely seeking a place of power, and always aware of where she was in the pecking order of the family. She was the follower, part of the pack, and she played that roll well. However, over the last few weeks, things have changed a bit.
I won’t say that she’s the Alpha dog in the house, and who knows what would happen if we got another dog, but she has certainly come out of her shell. Once she realized that Sadie was not coming back, we have noticed that she was a bit more relaxed. Of course, the weeks before we put Sadie down Chloe sensed the emotions in the house, but this relaxed nature digs deeper.
Though not every night, Chloe is more apt to sleep in our room, which was not as common an occurrence with Sadie around. She’s there to greet us when we come home and excited to see us, a pleasure she’d not been so apt to take advantage of with her domineering mate around. But what is most funny is how her sense of entitlement has been bolstered as her olfactory senses have led her to begging.
Recently she’s been much more attentive to us when we sit at the table to eat, usually lying down under the table, but if the food smells really good she’s sitting beside us with an anticipatory look on her face. Whenever we use the microwave or the timer goes off on the oven, we turn around, and there’s Chloe waiting for a morsel. She can even be found around the corner coming closer when she hears a package opened.
This is all kind of cute, but what is most amazing to us is that not only does she come into the kitchen to see if she gets some scraps, but she has taken to barking a piercing bark when we don’t! She has never been a barker. We don’t feed her scraps too much, but the times we do are etched in her memory. She’s not afraid to lay it out there and bark sharply, “I want some!!”
This is a far cry from the dog we knew just weeks ago.
Throughout his ministry Jesus got in trouble for the folks He hung out with. Often that trouble was rooted in the norms of the day. It wasn’t Kosher to hang out with a leper or Samaritan or Gentile. If one wanted to be “in” then it was good to seek out and remain faithful to the Pharisees and Sadducees, because they had the power and influence. It probably wasn’t overly helpful that the folks he chose to follow him were regular, everyday people with little influence or experience. And yet Jesus hung out with them.
He did this so that He could influence their lives and impact their living, but I also believe that He wanted and needed their influence on His life as well. Otherwise, Jesus would not have been fully enmeshed and influenced by the realities of this world.
What Jesus did, however, was to use His influence in amazing and powerful ways to reveal the Kingdom to others, and as He did the others embodied who Jesus was and what Jesus taught. His influence changed the disciples, and that change and influence was passed down to the next generation of disciples. This same influence and change has been passed to us, and we’re to do the same.
As I think about Sadie’s influence on Chloe, as well as Jesus’ influence on the disciples, I find myself thinking about the people who influence my life. There have been periods in my life when there have been good influences, and there have been times when the bad influencers affected my actions. I’ve been able to shy away from folks that get me in trouble, and embraced those who help me along the path (see last week’s blog “Brothers With Arms”). But always I have the ability to allow their influence to sway me. The bottom line is that we control how much the influences around us affect our living, and depending on our choice, we suffer the consequences or reap the benefits.
What’s interesting to me as a pastor is asking the question, “How are Christ-followers, and/or how is the Church, influencing the world?” Though a hard question to ask, if we’re honest with ourselves, that’s what we’re called to do.
Who and/or what influences your living? Are you influencing others? Is that influence for good or bad? How is the Church influencing, or not influencing lives? Is our influence a revelation of the inbreaking of God’s love to the world?
When we were trying to come up with names for her I thought maybe it would be fun to name her “Blacky.” I figured the irony of seeing the white dog with a black tongue was obvious, and the irony of such a name would be priceless. However, I quickly realized that that really wouldn’t be a good if she were to get away from us, and we’d be crying out to the world, “Come here Blacky!”
The Humane Society had named her “Clover,” but that didn’t seem to fit. We figured that our children were all named Biblical names, so why not the dog? We named her Chloe, and she’s been a wonderful companion.
Now Chloe is not the smartest of dogs, and at times she can be a bit goofy, but she is the sweetest dog I’ve ever met. I say that not braggingly or from too strong a bias, but she really is sweet. She is always ready to receive and give love, and when visitors come by, unlike Sadie, she doesn’t bark but simply runs to them smiling. Really, she has a sort of smile to her face. But the characteristic of Chloe that is most obviously exhibited in her is that she is subservient.
When I returned with Sadie after her episode of being gone for 9 weeks, I wondered how things would go when they met, though I predicted well what it would be like. Upon getting out of the car Sadie hobbled as quickly to the door as she could, and when she saw Chloe on the other side of the threshold she immediately established dominance. She barked and snapped at Chloe just to make sure Chloe knew who was boss. Chloe cowered in the corner, and for weeks kept her distance.
Though their relationship eventually grew to where they did things together and shared the affection
of the family, Chloe was always the one who placed herself last. When we fed them, Sadie would be the first to eat, and Chloe would stay back. Only after Sadie was finished would Chloe take her turn to eat, and almost always we had to monitor Sadie’s intake. Otherwise she’d have eaten Chloe’s food.In the “Sadie/Chloe” chapter of our lives, Chloe was the one in the background, rarely seeking a place of power, and always aware of where she was in the pecking order of the family. She was the follower, part of the pack, and she played that roll well. However, over the last few weeks, things have changed a bit.
I won’t say that she’s the Alpha dog in the house, and who knows what would happen if we got another dog, but she has certainly come out of her shell. Once she realized that Sadie was not coming back, we have noticed that she was a bit more relaxed. Of course, the weeks before we put Sadie down Chloe sensed the emotions in the house, but this relaxed nature digs deeper.
Though not every night, Chloe is more apt to sleep in our room, which was not as common an occurrence with Sadie around. She’s there to greet us when we come home and excited to see us, a pleasure she’d not been so apt to take advantage of with her domineering mate around. But what is most funny is how her sense of entitlement has been bolstered as her olfactory senses have led her to begging.
Recently she’s been much more attentive to us when we sit at the table to eat, usually lying down under the table, but if the food smells really good she’s sitting beside us with an anticipatory look on her face. Whenever we use the microwave or the timer goes off on the oven, we turn around, and there’s Chloe waiting for a morsel. She can even be found around the corner coming closer when she hears a package opened.
This is all kind of cute, but what is most amazing to us is that not only does she come into the kitchen to see if she gets some scraps, but she has taken to barking a piercing bark when we don’t! She has never been a barker. We don’t feed her scraps too much, but the times we do are etched in her memory. She’s not afraid to lay it out there and bark sharply, “I want some!!”
This is a far cry from the dog we knew just weeks ago.
Throughout his ministry Jesus got in trouble for the folks He hung out with. Often that trouble was rooted in the norms of the day. It wasn’t Kosher to hang out with a leper or Samaritan or Gentile. If one wanted to be “in” then it was good to seek out and remain faithful to the Pharisees and Sadducees, because they had the power and influence. It probably wasn’t overly helpful that the folks he chose to follow him were regular, everyday people with little influence or experience. And yet Jesus hung out with them.
He did this so that He could influence their lives and impact their living, but I also believe that He wanted and needed their influence on His life as well. Otherwise, Jesus would not have been fully enmeshed and influenced by the realities of this world.
What Jesus did, however, was to use His influence in amazing and powerful ways to reveal the Kingdom to others, and as He did the others embodied who Jesus was and what Jesus taught. His influence changed the disciples, and that change and influence was passed down to the next generation of disciples. This same influence and change has been passed to us, and we’re to do the same.
As I think about Sadie’s influence on Chloe, as well as Jesus’ influence on the disciples, I find myself thinking about the people who influence my life. There have been periods in my life when there have been good influences, and there have been times when the bad influencers affected my actions. I’ve been able to shy away from folks that get me in trouble, and embraced those who help me along the path (see last week’s blog “Brothers With Arms”). But always I have the ability to allow their influence to sway me. The bottom line is that we control how much the influences around us affect our living, and depending on our choice, we suffer the consequences or reap the benefits.
What’s interesting to me as a pastor is asking the question, “How are Christ-followers, and/or how is the Church, influencing the world?” Though a hard question to ask, if we’re honest with ourselves, that’s what we’re called to do.
Who and/or what influences your living? Are you influencing others? Is that influence for good or bad? How is the Church influencing, or not influencing lives? Is our influence a revelation of the inbreaking of God’s love to the world?
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