[1]
Ecclesiastes
3:1
New
International Version
1
There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
Tippy was a loving black Labrador retriever.
Like many in her breed, she was extremely intelligent. She had lived with us
for a number of years and was an integral part of our family.
We lived on Main Street, and I used to worry
that our pets might get run over by all of the heavy traffic. One Sunday Tippy
got out of the house and dashed away. I hurried downstairs and called for her,
not knowing where she had gone.
I walked out to the front of the house and
called again. Then my heart about stopped. I saw her on the other side of the
street running to meet me. The street was empty, but just as she started across
the street, a lone car came whipping down the street at about twice the speed
limit. The driver didn’t try to brake or show any sign that she was watching
the road.
She struck Tippy and threw her twenty feet or
more. Tippy got up and limped over to me. She lay her head down on my foot as I
tried to comfort her. Within a minute blood came out of her mouth, and she quit
breathing.
I stood there stunned with unrestrained grief
and remorse that I had called her when I did. Tears welled up inside of me, and
some flowed down my face. Everything about me was blurred.
The woman who had been speeding stopped and
came over to me. I recognized her as the wife of the conference treasurer. She
didn’t recognize me, nor did she try to. She admitted to being distracted as
she was driving and not watching the road. She asked about the dog, and I told
her that she had died.
“You know,” she continued, “this is a good
illustration of how tenuous life is…”
Heartlessly, she launched into a sermon about
death and being ready to meet our creator and judge. She warmed quickly to her
subject, lecturing me on the coming judgment.
I stood there numb. Tippy’s head still rested
on my shoe where she had died, loyal and obedient to the last. Blood had soaked
through my shoe and onto my foot and pants. And this heartless Christian
fanatic went on and on about my soul. I resented her callousness and her lack
of human sympathy. Anger welled up within me that anyone could be this
unfeeling.
Finally, I said something about having to take
care of the dog and turned my back on her. She walked back to her undamaged car,
still lecturing away. Little did she know that if I had not already had a
personal encounter with my loving Lord and Savior, I would then and there have
sworn never to have anything to do with Christianity. Any religion that could
leave someone so unfeeling, unsympathetic, and unkind would not be for me.
Lord, help me to be sensitive to the fact that there is a time and
a season to say things and a time to refrain from doing so!
[1] https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/woman-drags-dead-dog-through-8147076
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