These 20 years ago a no-nonsense Missouri-minded farmer friend of mine was asked by is next door neighbor to kill his sick dog. The neighbor did not have the heart to do it and his family was to attached to the animal. A verbal agreement was made and my farmer friend went home. When he got to his house, approximately a quarter mile away, he pulled out old trustee, his deer rifle, put her over the fence post and from over 300 yards made a clean shot of the dog in the neighbor's yard. Not bad for a Missouri deer hunter. We have pretty good shots here in the Show Me State. Old reliable was lovingly put back in her place of rest and the deed of mercy was done.
About 15 minutes later the neighbor came driving up my friend’s driveway in a fury. Now I was not in on the conversation, but I believe that the neighbor’s contention was that it was implied that my friend would take Fido off as the family waved goodbye and later the kids would be consoled with the idea that Fido was in heaven with Grandma angel and Uncle Ned angel. Everybody teary but happy that Fido was happy, Grandma was happy, Uncle Ned was happy and so they could be happy too. It did not include Fido laying by his dog house in a pool of blood, having had his life terminated forth with. My farmer friend contended that that was not part of the verbal agreement and the neighbor contended that it was implied in any such agreement.
Now I know my friend will be judged in the court of public opinion so I will take up his case as a court of public opinion self-appointed lawyer. (If you want to see my credentials please give me a few days to get them printed.) Although it is reasonable for the neighbor to assume that taking Fido for a private Grandma Angel experience, it was never stated in the verbal contract. I believe that my client has the legal grounds for acquittal based on the verbal contract not being clear.
It is hoped that the neighbors laugh about it looking back. Maybe the relationship began to improve by a friendly wave as the neighbor took the family off to trauma-inform therapy. Maybe there was, after a long discussion, an invite to a barbecue. Time tends to heal all wounds-except for the dogs.
Thinking back on my friends experience, I would like to offer two lessons. The first is from a counselor perspective: communication, communication, communication, people. If my friends would have communicated clearly then this sad tale would have never happened. You need us counselors way more than you know. It is all fun and games until the dog gets shot.
The second lesson is that God is often like my friend. We ask Him to do something and sometimes He just shoots the dog. God tends to take the quickest and most efficient route to get done what needs to be done. When we finally get ourselves to a place where we are praying for the things we should be praying for He immediately goes to work with my no-nonsense Missouri minded friends gusto. As an example of this every Christian at one time or another has prayed for patience. God then blesses us with all kinds of trials so that we can learn patience. That's not what we really mean. What we really mean is we want Him to come down and invade is with some sort of a spiritual power that makes us immediately Mother Teresa. We want it done our way without pain or effort or any real change.
But God has a more efficient way-he shoots the dog. He goes directly to what needs to happen to fix the problem in the most efficient way and the most effective way that it can be done. We misunderstand God because He's about the end result and we're about it happening in a way that is to the least inconvenience or emotional stress to us. God is not worried about our inconvenience or emotional stress. He is worried about conforming us to the image of Christ and the direct route is the quickest way to get there.
We ask God to do something and when it is painful hard or discouraging we say yes Lord I wanted it but not that way. Interestingly enough we serve a God that is bigger than our understanding and not only knows what we need but knows how we need it.
In my sad tale my friend probably should have given his neighbor the Grandma and Uncle Ned angel experience. But I guarantee you that when it comes to our spiritual growth and answered prayers, God is just going to shoot the dog.
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