November 30 – “Nothing like a faithful dog”

This afternoon we did something we haven't done in a long time – nothing.  We went to church this morning and enjoyed being with our family at Seaside.  Lunch was a quick sandwich at Quizno's.  We stopped at WalMart – that's become a habit.  And then we went back to Omega.  Nathan was at work today, and not long after we got home, April left to spend the afternoon scrapbooking with a friend.  Believe it or not, we turned on the Hallmark Channel and watched a few of those old schmaltzy Christmas movies.  Well, I watched some of them.  It is very hard for me to stay awake on Sunday afternoons.  Football or movies – doesn't really matter – I can sleep to any of them.  I did take a break from my napping to power wash the concrete in the back yard where we fried the turkeys.  Didn't do much good, though.  Oh, well.  I tried.  It just matched the kind of day it was for us – oh, well.   It didn't take long to discover that we weren't alone in our ho-hum afternoon.  Nathan and April's dog, Scooter let us know he was around.  When I walked downstairs to look for the power washer, he ran to the front door and looked back with those huge Boston Terrier bug-eyes that very clearly said, "Let me out, please."  When your grand-dog asks, you have to listen, so I spent a few minutes watching him run around like he still had his Halloween chicken costume on.  He followed me around to the back when I got the power washer out.  He did disappear when I turned it on, but he came right back when I called.  He was hiding right around the corner.  At one point he took off running toward the water.  I lost sight of him, so I jumped up, just as he got to the deck over the water.  And just as he got there, the resident pelican decided that it was time for him to get out of town.  I don't know who was more scared, the pelican, Scooter, or me.  See, if he had jumped in, I would have had to go in after him, and it's still cold outside.  We went back inside after that little escapade.  I went back to the couch, and he immediately put his head in my lap, asking for some attention.  And petting him wasn't enough.  Then he brought his toy over and begged me to play some fetch.  This whole grad dog thing is hard work.  Finally I came over to the computer to work on my journal, and he headed off to his bed.  I guess he was sulking.   We haven't had our dogs Fritz and Heidi around since the flood.  They are staying with Kel and Christina (when they aren't running away).  I forgot there's just nothing like a faithful dog. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it."    Father, that's the kind of faithful I need today and every day.  Thanks for the little picture of it in Scooter.  Amen.