The numbers on the mail box are 1219. The sign next to the driveway says "Double Six Farms" (that's a whole other story in itself). Derek calls it the "Ponderosa". You will have to ask him why. When we drive in the yard, Kinsley simply says, "We home".
It's about the most beautiful 30 acres I've ever seen, although I might be a bit prejudice. It is bordered on the East by I-65. On the South by the REA high tension lines and their "right-of-way". To the West is the creek and to the North is the deadly Poplar Springs Road. It is there where many of our pets have wondered and died. It is there that I have warned Gracie not to go.
She can play anywhere on theses 30 acres but she is never to go toward Poplar Springs Road. It's not because I'm being mean. It's not because I don't want her to enjoy herself. It's not because I just want to be "God" and tell her what to do. It is simply because I know that if she wonders up there it will most likely mean death for her.
Of course Gracie doesn't understand my reasoning. She can't comprehend cars, trucks and asphalt. She just knows that I said "No" and she will be yelled at severely if she goes in that direction.
So, I was working on the Ranger a few weeks ago. The started went out and I was trying to be a good mechanic and keep from having to pay someone to replace the starter. Things were not going smoothly. The longer I strained and grunted and smashed my knuckles the more I thought paying that money to someone who really knew what they were doing would be a wise choice.
Gracie was playing around in the front yard when suddenly she went ballistic. She let out a shrill yelp and headed toward the road. I yelled at her. She didn't stop. There was a big white dog walking down the road and Gracie knew he was not supposed to be there. She charged up the hill, totally ignoring my yelling for her to stop. It made me angry. It made me afraid of what was going to happen to her. It made me sad that she would not obey me.
I knew what most likely awaited her on the road. I knew she did not understand but I expected her to obey. She didn't.
Does this story sound familiar?
Man was established in a fine place to live. Everything he wanted was given to him. Nothing was withheld, nothing that is except these "two little trees". "Don't go there", God said." Don't eat of the fruit of those trees"
He knew it would hurt us. He knew it was bad for us. He knew it would lead to our spiritual death. He wasn't being mean. He didn't do it because He didn't want them to enjoy themselves. He didn't even do it because He wanted to be God......heck, He was God. He did it because it was best for them.
But one day, as God was working out in the yard, an old black snake came down the path. Suddenly, man was overcome with the temptation of doing what he wanted to do. He ate of the fruit and he died.
How angry, how sad and how afraid God must have been on that day. Death was waiting on the man he had created and that he loved and even with all His warning....man ran after the thing that would ultimately kill him. And because He is God, and because He gave man this wonderful, frightening, powerful thing called "choice". God didn't stop him. And man died.
I realized what God felt to a small extent that day a few weeks ago. I saw the little dog that I loved and cared for charge head-long toward something that I knew would kill her and I couldn't stop her.
No, Gracie didn't get hit. She finally listened to my yelling and came back into the safety of the yard. She learned a lesson...I hope. I learned a lesson about how God felt that day in the garden.
I hope when you are tempted to do something that God has forbidden that you will remember Gracie's little experiment. I hope you will realize that God says "no" for our own good. I hope you won't run into the road of sin. There is death there.
Mind your Master. He knows what's best.
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