I told you about Lucky the dog. He was an emaciated puppy that I met as he was licking chewing gum off the parking lot of the bank in Gibsland. He adopted us by breaking into our house and curling up on the floor at the foot of the bed. We took him to the vet and he has all the shots. He was fixed and now barks in a higher vocal range. He has put on weight and looks healthy.

We forgot!

We forgot what it is like to have a puppy in the house. Our other two dogs are six years old and have mellowed. They sleep, eat, play for a minute and go outside and do their doggy thing.

If only Lucky would follow the script.

He has earned his new last name. He is now Lucky Luciano.

I have a small metal trashcan in which the dog food is stored. This can has minimal clearance under the cabinet. It has a crawfish tray on top acting as a lid. If I used the real lid the handle wouldn’t allow it to fit under the cabinet. On three sides this trash can barely fits under the cabinet.

Lucky has figured out how to grab the handle of the trash can and slide it from under the cabinet. He taps the lid and knocks it on the floor. Depending on his mood he will run outside with this crawfish tray, or he will deposit it in the chair in the den. After he has finished playing with the modified lid, he has a snack. At other times, he will knock the trash can over, so the other dogs can feast along with him.

Lucky must know that I love snow. The other day I came home and Lucky had decorated the den so it would look like snow had fallen. He found the most susceptible pillow and ripped it open and spread the contents around the room. I have attached the picture of this event. You can see Lucky, the snow and the crawfish tray in the chair. He had a busy morning.

Let’s not forget shoes. I have been removing shoes with impunity for years. Sometimes I put them up. Sometimes they stand where I came out of them. Lucky loves shoes. He loves the lining in the bottom of the shoes. He likes the rip them out and chew on them.

He enjoys hiding my shoes. He has even taken a shoe outside to play with it.
He likes to clean my bedside table. He has run off with the TV remote. He grabbed my glasses and ran off with them. My pristine lenses now have dog teeth marks in them. He jumps on tables as a short cut to the other dogs when he is playing. I have become a more judicious house cleaner. Anything on the kitchen cabinet is a candidate to become floor covering. He has this thing about mail. He even chewed up the agenda for the next Parish Council meeting. It gave him indigestion.

The dog is a pest!

Not really, Lucky is a puppy. He is full of energy. He is full of play. He is clumsy and amusing. I don’t know what kind of dog Lucky is, but he is on his way to being one spoiled dog.

We will survive the puppy stage. Lucky will learn NO. He will learn to stay off the furniture. He will learn because the other dogs have learned. He will become well trained and less playful. He will outgrow some of his exuberance. He will become a good dog!

I wonder if the church accidentally takes all the joy out of following Jesus. I wonder if it would be better if we encouraged the playful, joyous stage of following Him. I see too many Jesus followers that appear to be ground down by “doing church.” What if we gave up doing church and became the church? Might that tack return the joy of our salvation? Perhaps our problem is that we say NO too often to those who are very young in the faith. We are too consumed with growing good Christians. What would the world be like if we aimed for joyous, loving, playful Christians?

I wonder!