Bark, Please

By Robin J. Steinweg –

The front door stood open a few inches. I knew I’d locked it that morning. As we returned after dark, our son saw someone in the living-room, hunched over. I backed out and called 9-1-1. From a safe distance I watched two police officers enter my shadowy house with guns drawn.

They came out with good news. Nobody there, nothing harmed. How to avoid this in the future? Have a locksmith refigure the locks and get a dog. Barking dogs are a great deterrent to intruders.

At the humane shelter, Buddy sat politely in the midst of the other dogs’ frenzied barking, gazing at us. We brought home our canine alarm system.

But Buddy didn’t bark. I determined to train him. How does one train a dog to bark?

One barks.

I barked. Buddy and our boys watched. When I’d barked enough, I gave myself a treat (cookie). If Buddy even looked like he was interested, I gave him a treat (bone). I barked daily. Weekly. Monthly. I barked myself hoarse. We went through boxes of expensive treats for people and dogs with no sign of progress. I felt pretty foolish barking when there really was someone at the door. But I didn’t want my sons to see me give up. I wanted them to learn perseverance (I also wanted the dog to bark).

Finally Buddy’s lip twitched. I praised and petted him. When his lip curled, I praised him more. When he snorted a bit as his lip curled, I fawned over him. Eventually, he vocalized the tiniest bit. I went nuts. When he finally did bark, I rolled over, howled, sat up, everything but play dead. He knew he’d done something great. And he kept on doing it (in a week or so we’d trained him to quit barking when asked).

Someone has said, “The race is not always to the swift, but to those who keep on running.”

What do you face today that you’re tempted to abandon? Fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who endured the cross—so that you won’t grow weary and lose heart.

QUOTE: “The greatest oak was once a little nut who held its ground” (unknown).

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9 NIV).

Today’s devotional is by Robin J. Steinweg. Robin’s life might be described using the game Twister: the colored dots are all occupied, limbs intertwine (hopefully not to the point of tangling), and you never know which dot the arrow will point to next, but it sure is fun getting there!

What’s in Your Wallet?

By Robin J. Steinweg –

I attended one of those parties. You know, the ones where you can purchase interior décor, candles, jewelry or kitchenware in the comfort of a friend’s home. At this one, the guests were strangers to each other. To break the ice, the hostess had us play a game.

What’s in Your Wallet (or purse)? The owner of the most unusual item would be asked to explain its presence and would win a nifty grapefruit slicer.

It’s surprising what shows up in wallets and purses. Thirty-year-old ticket stubs, dead batteries, used string, a spoon, whistle, needle nosed pliers, shoelaces, an unfinished cross stitch project…

I pulled out a bullet shell-casing. Here’s the story I told as I accepted my prize:
My cousin Jay, a military man, died in his forties. Cousin Edie asked me to sing at his funeral. I carefully avoided giving in to grief so I wouldn’t be a mess when the time came. The graveside ceremony followed, with three rifle volleys, the playing of Taps, and a soldier presenting the folded casket flag to Edie. The family walked back to the church but I lingered a few moments, finally releasing some tears.

Outside the cemetery gates, one of the honor guard huffed to catch up with me. “Ma’am?” I turned around.

“Would you please take this, Ma’am?” He placed the bullet casing into my palm, turned, and trotted back to his outfit. I stood, turning the casing over and over. It was empty.

That’s when the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart. Your cousin is not here. In the casket is only the empty shell that housed him for awhile. Because of his faith in the Son of God, he lives. You will see him again.

I carried that casing around in my purse for years to remind me of Christ’s victory over death. I got to share the gospel of Jesus Christ whenever it rolled out. So now I ask you: What’s in your wallet? Is there something that gives you a reason to talk about what Jesus did for you? Don’t leave home without it.

PRAYER: Lord, what a great hope and future You have for us! Reveal to us if there’s something tangible we can carry with us that might open opportunities to share Your gospel.

“Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (1 Peter 3:15b).

Today’s devotional is by Robin J. Steinweg. Robin’s life might be described using the game Twister: the colored dots are all occupied, limbs intertwine (hopefully not to the point of tangling), and you never know which dot the arrow will point to next, but it sure is fun getting there!

Anit-wise Motion

By Robin Steinweg –

Dead ant, dead ant, dead antdeadantdeadant (sung to the Pink Panther theme). This is what goes through my mind when I enter my bathroom these days. That and some questions: why? Why are these ants in the bathroom when there’s no food? They don’t even seem to be looking for food. They appeared a couple of months ago from under the molding; aimlessly wandering in odd-shaped loops, then out of sight again—a perpetual, purposeless motion. In the past, they came into the kitchen in orderly troops, heading for crumbs on the floor. Not this time. I tried natural extermination methods first, without success. We’ve battled ants every summer for years, but I never think to have poison in the house.

I finally bought some. They lined up for it like piggies at the trough, gorging themselves. Some drowned, some staggered a few steps and expired, others faithfully carried the stuff back to the nest (I assume). I felt satisfied after they’d been gone awhile. The poison worked as it had every other summer. But the other day I noticed one tugging on something. And another. I looked closely. They were hauling the corpses of their fallen comrades to the middle of the bathroom floor, where they dumped them and returned to the molding. This went on all day. Hauling dead ants almost to my feet and dumping them off, as if they knew what they were doing—like a scene from a horror flick.

By now you are wondering what the spiritual application is. So am I! And if you are wise enough to find one from these erratic ants, would you please post it in the comments below for the rest of us?

All I know is that the Bible says to observe ants in order to be wise. Without overseer or ruler, they prepare their food in summer and gather it at harvest time. They plan ahead. I’ve been caught in last-minute panics and in an unprepared condition times without number for lack of planning. Unexpected visitors, sickness, people calling and needing to talk—or ants in the house—have brought stress or embarrassment to me and my family because I wasn’t prepared. I hope to be wiser in this way starting now. I’ll observe the ants. Just maybe not the ones in my bathroom!

PRAYER: Lord, You are the great Planner of creation and eternity. You planned our salvation in advance. You planned good works for us to do. You have plans to prosper us and to give us a future and a hope. You are even now preparing a place for us in heaven. I ask You for wisdom to be a better planner, able to learn Your wisdom even from ants.

“The plans of the diligent lead surely to advantage” (Proverbs 21:5 NASB).

Today’s devotional is by Robin J. Steinweg. Robin’s life might be described using the game Twister: the colored dots are all occupied, limbs intertwine (hopefully not to the point of tangling), and you never know which dot the arrow will point to next, but it sure is fun getting there!

Do It Now-Ow-Ow-Ow!

By Robin Steinweg –

“Hey Mom, they called from work—I have to go.” I heard a slam. Uh-oh! I took the stairs two at a time and launched myself through the door, only to see my ride (my firstborn’s car) go poof. My younger son had left for work in my car fifteen minutes earlier. The door slam triggered my memory from early that morning, when my husband asked me to run Important Errands for him. Important Financial Errands that couldn’t wait. Sure, you can count on me.

Now I stood in an empty garage, viewing an empty neighborhood. No begging a ride. I could walk the mile and a half, but not in fifteen minutes. My bike? I looked around. There, up in the rafters. The ladder would reach, but I’d never have the strength to lift it down. My son’s bike beckoned. Two feet tall, with fat tires and pegs for doing tricks, it might at least get me downtown before closing.

I swung my leg over the boy-bar, sat on the vinyl-covered, two-inch slice of rock they call a seat, and wobbled down the driveway. I hadn’t ridden a bike in eight years. An oncoming car made me back-pedal to brake, but nothing happened. Legs circling frantically in reverse, I found the hand brakes just in time. After half a block I knew I was in trouble.

Had you stood on Broadway that afternoon, you’d have witnessed a middle-aged lady bumping along, “Ow! Ow-ow-ow-ow-Ow,” knees almost hitting her chin, narrowly avoiding potholes, 12×18 canvas tote banging her left leg in syncopated rhythm to the hurried pumping, her breath coming in asthmatic gulps.

I accomplished the Important Financial Errands. I saw only one person I knew, and returned home determined to find some redemptive lesson in this. The Lord was probably telling me to exercise more.

Prone on the couch, I thought about how I’d put off my errands till late in the day. That morning I had delivered another in my series of mother-lectures on the dangers of the sin of procrastination. “Do it now!” I’d told my sons. Oops. There the lesson lay.

AUTHOR QUOTE: God’s Word says if I know the good I should do and don’t do it, that’s sin. Do it now!

“For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come” (1 Timothy 4:8 NIV).

Today’s devotional is by Robin J. Steinweg. Robin’s life might be described using the game Twister: the colored dots are all occupied, limbs intertwine (hopefully not to the point of tangling), and you never know which dot the arrow will point to next, but it sure is fun getting there!

The Family That Camps Together

By Robin J. Steinweg –

Is it possible these days to raise a happy, well-adjusted family? When our boys were little, we listened faithfully to Dr. James Dobson’s Focus on the Family program. We learned a lot and developed confidence in the advice we heard. One day he mentioned a poll taken of successful Christian families. Something they all had in common: camping.

Without hesitating, we scoured garage sales and thrift stores for equipment. We borrowed How-To books from the library, and collected recipes for campfire meals. We found an available site at a state park and loaded the car till the bumper scraped the driveway.

My husband had never camped in his life. I had fond memories of camping as a young child. The rain, the long soggy treks to the outhouse, the lake leeches attached to my sister’s legs, the mosquitoes carrying me off. How could I describe such delights to my uninitiated family? I didn’t. They could experience it for themselves.

The book of Proverbs tells us wisdom will protect us, wisdom is supreme—so get it, if it costs all you have. Wisdom might come through God’s Word, or sometimes He plants it within us. But then there are the times He allows us to walk through an experience to develop our wisdom muscle. Guess how He chose to do it in our case?

I should have seen it coming. A husband who dislikes the unexpected, a son who believed he had a future in entymology, a toddler who believed every insect was a scorpion, and me with allergy-induced asthma. A thin sheet of canvas wasn’t a proper filter from ragweed that spread pollen like guests showering rice on newlyweds. Nor did it filter the whoops of drunken neighbors starting their weekend early.

By the time we folded up our sodden tent (of course it rained) we were only on speaking terms with our sons. We got over it eventually, and learned some valuable lessons: it’s wonderful to have programs like Focus on the Family to teach good parenting skills, but it’s a good idea to check with God before jumping into things. What works for other families may not be God’s best for yours.

Yes, it is possible to raise a happy, well-adjusted family these days. But leave camping for campers!

AUTHOR QUOTE: The family that camps together may end up soaked and ornery.

“Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men” (1 Corinthians 1:25a, KJV).

Today’s devotion is by Robin J. Steinweg. Robin’s life might be described using the game Twister: the colored dots are all occupied, limbs intertwine (hopefully not to the point of tangling), and you never know which dot the arrow will point to next, but it sure is fun getting there!

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