January 15, 2010
005 Tex’s Thought Provokers
My Dog Is Not Insane
It has become clear to me that my dog is not insane. I base this on Einstein’s definition of insanity. “Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result.”
At this point, I feel you need some background information. A few years ago, my daughter found out that in a near by shelter there was a young dog that was slated for a needle, thus he had the crossing of the long swamp to look forward too. We already were the proud owners of a pure bread German Sheppard, who by the way, I think probably was a bit insane, so I had my reservations as to whether we needed another dog.
But having the luxury of being wrapped around my daughter’s finger, I had no choice. I had to concede; otherwise I would have to live with the guilt of being the reason for the dog’s demise for the rest of my days. Trust me, my daughter is a very strong willed person, she never would have let me forget it. So it was off to the rescue.
Now then, upon arriving with my family of troops, bent on saving the day, my reservations were elevated to the next level when I first saw this half Siberian Husky and half German Sheppard. First, he was rather big. Second, he was older than I had thought. Third, he had two different colored eyes, one brown and one turquoise, which kind of creeped me out. Fourth, we already had one very large dog. Fifth, I went to pet him and his head went immediately down, with his ears pined back. I looked at the manager of the shelter and said. “This dog seems to have been abused!” The smiling woman said. “Oh yes…he was…but he is still a very nice dog…and besides…he should grow out of that…he really needs a nice home.”
I just looked at her, as my thoughts were dwelling on a key word in the statement she had made. The word should, was causing me to have serious doubts.
But then, throwing caution and better judgment to the wind, over ruled by a look from my daughter, who’s eyes resembled Cindy Loo Who from Dr. Seuss’s “How The Grinch Stole Christmas” it was off to Meiko’s new home.
As it turned out, Meiko has become a fixture at our home. Despite some rather annoying traits that he possesses; and despite the fact that my insane dog Tango, who unfortunately, made the journey across the long swamp, due to a stroke, was a bit put out with the invasion at the time; and despite…well you get the picture.
Meiko and my daughter Sommer fell in love with each other the very day we saved him from the big sleep. He is spoiled to the core, and I guess if I admit it, I have come to accept him…. ok, love him too.
Now then, by this time you are wondering to yourself, where in the name of tarnation is this Yoyo going with this. Perhaps you are entertaining thoughts as to my stability?
I will try to explain.
Meiko has a problem he can’t seem to get over. He learned this at a very young age, and no matter how much love and kindness he gets, even from Sommer, he still cowers every time we go to pet him. His head drops and his ears go back. Then once we pet him, and he sees that we are not going to hit him or hurt him in any way, he is fine.
This is why I say, my dog is not insane. You see, according to Einstein’s definition, he does not expect a different result from being approached by a human.
I contend that animals are anything but dumb. They are wonderful creatures made by God to be part of the perfect balance he created.
We can learn, and we have if you think about it, a lot from the animals.
I will explain further. To me Einstein’s definition has close ties with hope. Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting the same result, is acceptance. In some cases it could be classed as a habit. It could also mean you have fallen into the comfort zone, your comfort zone. However, it could also mean that you have lost hope. If this is the case, you don’t expect anything different because you have given up, due to all the time you have spent expecting something different and it hasn’t happened. It could further be a result of the comfort zone barring any acceptance of change.
The fact is that everything, save one thing, changes. We live in a very dynamic world. There is very little that is static, that is if we expect anything different. You can say I am doing fine and I will not change. That might well be. But what if you are joined by a group of like minded people? What if together your resistance to change is barring others that grew up in a different time with different attitudes and different ways of achieving the same goal, from entering in to your fold?
I am certainly not saying that anyone here is evil or that anyone is intentionally barring people. But what if you are perceived by others that way? What if they are misunderstanding what they see and hear? What if they are thinking…?
Matthew 23:13
13 “It will be bad for you teachers of the law and you Pharisees! You are hypocrites*! You close the way for people to enter God’s kingdom.* You yourselves don’t enter, and you stop those who are trying to enter.
I know for a certainty that if many of the people in this world thought that this was what they were doing, they would be aghast.
However, there are many good loving people that are doing this and they do not even realize that they are.
I spoke earlier about one thing that does not change. The language might indeed change, but the word of the Lord and his intent never changes. It was good a very long time ago and it will be good until he comes again. And even then, his word will never change.
The world changes, the sea changes, the universe changes, and yes we are constantly changing whether we like it or not. Nothing remains the same except the word of the Lord and he himself.
People will say to you I don’t know how to change. Or is it that they are in their comfort zone, and they simply do not want to change. People have told me time and time again, I am scared of change. Or are they really using the word fear as an excuse for staying the same, safe and sound in their comfort zone?
Others have said, I am too old to change! Well what about Zechariah and Elizabeth?
Luke 1:7
7 But they had no children. Elizabeth could not have a baby, and both of them were very old.
Luke 1:13-20
13 But the angel said to him, “Zechariah, don’t be afraid. Your prayer has been heard by God. Your wife Elizabeth will give birth to a baby boy, and you will name him John. 14 You will be very happy, and many others will share your joy over his birth. 15 He will be a great man for the Lord. He will never drink wine or beer. Even before he is born, he will be filled with the Holy Spirit.* 16 “John will help many people of Israel* return to the Lord their God. 17John himself will go ahead of the Lord and make people ready for his coming. He will be powerful like Elijah* and will have the same spirit. He will make peace between fathers and their children. He will cause people who are not obeying God to change and start thinking the way they should.” 18 Zechariah said to the angel, “How can I know that what you say is true? I am an old man, and my wife is also old.” 19 The angel answered him, “I am Gabriel, the one who always stands ready before God. He sent me to talk to you and to tell you this good news. 20 Now, listen! You will not be able to talk until the day when these things happen. You will lose your speech because you did not believe what I told you. But everything I said will really happen.”
Well indeed, Zechariah and Elizabeth did have a son and they did call him John. And Zechariah got his voice back. And it certainly was a change for them and for the world. Because John changed a lot of people. And he did lay out a path for the one who is the greatest.
In my mind, change is a part of life. I hope I never get to a point where I am done changing, because for me this will be the day I am done learning.
I will tell you right up front, I am not comfortable, with many things. When I get up to speak before people, even though I have done it many times, I still get nervous. I may have learned how to hide my nervousness, but it is still there and very real. The same thing happens when I get up to play guitar and sing. In other words, I am not comfortable. If I become too comfortable, then I really do not put my all into it. I know when I am on the verge of comfort, because I begin to say, oh…this is not the best…but it will do. When I am trying to glorify the Lord, I want to always do my best.
If I get too comfortable, I will fall into the realm of those resistant to change. Then I fear, me being who I am, I would begin to lose hope. If I lose hope, then what do I have left?
I will admit that there are some things about us that are very hard to change. Some things we do not want to change. Like the older hymns for example. They are beautiful and they still bring praise to the Lord in a wondrous way. So the point here is, why should we change something that we love and something that has worked very well all these years? I agree that they should never be done away with. I agree that they have worked well for all of these years. I agree we should maintain them.
Yet, there is something else that we have to think about. By not changing the way we think, we are really going back to Matthew 23:13. Not because we are trying to keep people away. Because we are not willing to accept any kind of change, thus in essence we are doing the same thing.
Adopting the “my way or the highway” attitude is really an example of Matthew 23:13.
Now before you label me an anarchist or some sort of evil communist, or being in cahoots with Old Fungus Face, what if ……
what if we didn’t have to lose the older Hymns and the older style of worship, which for many has worked so well? What if we didn’t have to lose something that we love so much?
What if we were to compromise? What if say….we had a service at 800am for an hour of tradition hymns and message? Then we could go to the kitchen and have a coffee and a doughnut and share some fellowship. Then we went to Sunday school for an hour as usual. Then we had a contemporized type of service for an hour? This might include plays, messages, testimonies, music of today, all sorts of things.
It might be very surprising to many, as to how many would gladly and willingly go to both services.
The way I see it is this, not to sound like a broken record;
25 Jesus knew what the Pharisees were thinking. So he said to them, “Every kingdom that fights against itself will be destroyed. And every city or family that is divided against itself will not survive.”
Matthew 12:25
We can decide to not compromise, and we can simply adopt the “my way or the highway” attitude, and we will become a house divided by it’s self and we will all lose out.
We can continue letting the world see us as described in Matthew 23:13. Whether we are doing it on purpose or not is irrelevant. We can go on doing the same things as we have always did, all the while expecting a new and different outcome, and no, I am not saying that anyone is insane, other than myself. With everyone losing in the end.
Or we could all be people of good will and compromise so that everyone wins, mostly including the Lord. Even if we were to try it, even if we were to try something like it. What if were able to bring one person to the Lord because of our compromise, would it not be worth it?
To me, we have to be thinking all the time of ways to spread the good news, ways to bring more and more people to the Lord. I for one am not comfortable while I know there is more I could be doing to spread his word and more I could be doing to help gather souls for Jesus. It is my hope that for as long as I live I am not content to ever be comfortable. For when I find that I am getting comfortable, I will seek change. Until next time, may the light of Jesus shine on your face, and may you never be content with comfort.
Our comfort awaits us in Glory in the future.
God bless you all.
Tex
005 Tex’s Thought Provokers
My Dog Is Not Insane
It has become clear to me that my dog is not insane. I base this on Einstein’s definition of insanity. “Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result.”
At this point, I feel you need some background information. A few years ago, my daughter found out that in a near by shelter there was a young dog that was slated for a needle, thus he had the crossing of the long swamp to look forward too. We already were the proud owners of a pure bread German Sheppard, who by the way, I think probably was a bit insane, so I had my reservations as to whether we needed another dog.
But having the luxury of being wrapped around my daughter’s finger, I had no choice. I had to concede; otherwise I would have to live with the guilt of being the reason for the dog’s demise for the rest of my days. Trust me, my daughter is a very strong willed person, she never would have let me forget it. So it was off to the rescue.
Now then, upon arriving with my family of troops, bent on saving the day, my reservations were elevated to the next level when I first saw this half Siberian Husky and half German Sheppard. First, he was rather big. Second, he was older than I had thought. Third, he had two different colored eyes, one brown and one turquoise, which kind of creeped me out. Fourth, we already had one very large dog. Fifth, I went to pet him and his head went immediately down, with his ears pined back. I looked at the manager of the shelter and said. “This dog seems to have been abused!” The smiling woman said. “Oh yes…he was…but he is still a very nice dog…and besides…he should grow out of that…he really needs a nice home.”
I just looked at her, as my thoughts were dwelling on a key word in the statement she had made. The word should, was causing me to have serious doubts.
But then, throwing caution and better judgment to the wind, over ruled by a look from my daughter, who’s eyes resembled Cindy Loo Who from Dr. Seuss’s “How The Grinch Stole Christmas” it was off to Meiko’s new home.
As it turned out, Meiko has become a fixture at our home. Despite some rather annoying traits that he possesses; and despite the fact that my insane dog Tango, who unfortunately, made the journey across the long swamp, due to a stroke, was a bit put out with the invasion at the time; and despite…well you get the picture.
Meiko and my daughter Sommer fell in love with each other the very day we saved him from the big sleep. He is spoiled to the core, and I guess if I admit it, I have come to accept him…. ok, love him too.
Now then, by this time you are wondering to yourself, where in the name of tarnation is this Yoyo going with this. Perhaps you are entertaining thoughts as to my stability?
I will try to explain.
Meiko has a problem he can’t seem to get over. He learned this at a very young age, and no matter how much love and kindness he gets, even from Sommer, he still cowers every time we go to pet him. His head drops and his ears go back. Then once we pet him, and he sees that we are not going to hit him or hurt him in any way, he is fine.
This is why I say, my dog is not insane. You see, according to Einstein’s definition, he does not expect a different result from being approached by a human.
I contend that animals are anything but dumb. They are wonderful creatures made by God to be part of the perfect balance he created.
We can learn, and we have if you think about it, a lot from the animals.
I will explain further. To me Einstein’s definition has close ties with hope. Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting the same result, is acceptance. In some cases it could be classed as a habit. It could also mean you have fallen into the comfort zone, your comfort zone. However, it could also mean that you have lost hope. If this is the case, you don’t expect anything different because you have given up, due to all the time you have spent expecting something different and it hasn’t happened. It could further be a result of the comfort zone barring any acceptance of change.
The fact is that everything, save one thing, changes. We live in a very dynamic world. There is very little that is static, that is if we expect anything different. You can say I am doing fine and I will not change. That might well be. But what if you are joined by a group of like minded people? What if together your resistance to change is barring others that grew up in a different time with different attitudes and different ways of achieving the same goal, from entering in to your fold?
I am certainly not saying that anyone here is evil or that anyone is intentionally barring people. But what if you are perceived by others that way? What if they are misunderstanding what they see and hear? What if they are thinking…?
Matthew 23:13
13 “It will be bad for you teachers of the law and you Pharisees! You are hypocrites*! You close the way for people to enter God’s kingdom.* You yourselves don’t enter, and you stop those who are trying to enter.
I know for a certainty that if many of the people in this world thought that this was what they were doing, they would be aghast.
However, there are many good loving people that are doing this and they do not even realize that they are.
I spoke earlier about one thing that does not change. The language might indeed change, but the word of the Lord and his intent never changes. It was good a very long time ago and it will be good until he comes again. And even then, his word will never change.
The world changes, the sea changes, the universe changes, and yes we are constantly changing whether we like it or not. Nothing remains the same except the word of the Lord and he himself.
People will say to you I don’t know how to change. Or is it that they are in their comfort zone, and they simply do not want to change. People have told me time and time again, I am scared of change. Or are they really using the word fear as an excuse for staying the same, safe and sound in their comfort zone?
Others have said, I am too old to change! Well what about Zechariah and Elizabeth?
Luke 1:7
7 But they had no children. Elizabeth could not have a baby, and both of them were very old.
Luke 1:13-20
13 But the angel said to him, “Zechariah, don’t be afraid. Your prayer has been heard by God. Your wife Elizabeth will give birth to a baby boy, and you will name him John. 14 You will be very happy, and many others will share your joy over his birth. 15 He will be a great man for the Lord. He will never drink wine or beer. Even before he is born, he will be filled with the Holy Spirit.* 16 “John will help many people of Israel* return to the Lord their God. 17John himself will go ahead of the Lord and make people ready for his coming. He will be powerful like Elijah* and will have the same spirit. He will make peace between fathers and their children. He will cause people who are not obeying God to change and start thinking the way they should.” 18 Zechariah said to the angel, “How can I know that what you say is true? I am an old man, and my wife is also old.” 19 The angel answered him, “I am Gabriel, the one who always stands ready before God. He sent me to talk to you and to tell you this good news. 20 Now, listen! You will not be able to talk until the day when these things happen. You will lose your speech because you did not believe what I told you. But everything I said will really happen.”
Well indeed, Zechariah and Elizabeth did have a son and they did call him John. And Zechariah got his voice back. And it certainly was a change for them and for the world. Because John changed a lot of people. And he did lay out a path for the one who is the greatest.
In my mind, change is a part of life. I hope I never get to a point where I am done changing, because for me this will be the day I am done learning.
I will tell you right up front, I am not comfortable, with many things. When I get up to speak before people, even though I have done it many times, I still get nervous. I may have learned how to hide my nervousness, but it is still there and very real. The same thing happens when I get up to play guitar and sing. In other words, I am not comfortable. If I become too comfortable, then I really do not put my all into it. I know when I am on the verge of comfort, because I begin to say, oh…this is not the best…but it will do. When I am trying to glorify the Lord, I want to always do my best.
If I get too comfortable, I will fall into the realm of those resistant to change. Then I fear, me being who I am, I would begin to lose hope. If I lose hope, then what do I have left?
I will admit that there are some things about us that are very hard to change. Some things we do not want to change. Like the older hymns for example. They are beautiful and they still bring praise to the Lord in a wondrous way. So the point here is, why should we change something that we love and something that has worked very well all these years? I agree that they should never be done away with. I agree that they have worked well for all of these years. I agree we should maintain them.
Yet, there is something else that we have to think about. By not changing the way we think, we are really going back to Matthew 23:13. Not because we are trying to keep people away. Because we are not willing to accept any kind of change, thus in essence we are doing the same thing.
Adopting the “my way or the highway” attitude is really an example of Matthew 23:13.
Now before you label me an anarchist or some sort of evil communist, or being in cahoots with Old Fungus Face, what if ……
what if we didn’t have to lose the older Hymns and the older style of worship, which for many has worked so well? What if we didn’t have to lose something that we love so much?
What if we were to compromise? What if say….we had a service at 800am for an hour of tradition hymns and message? Then we could go to the kitchen and have a coffee and a doughnut and share some fellowship. Then we went to Sunday school for an hour as usual. Then we had a contemporized type of service for an hour? This might include plays, messages, testimonies, music of today, all sorts of things.
It might be very surprising to many, as to how many would gladly and willingly go to both services.
The way I see it is this, not to sound like a broken record;
25 Jesus knew what the Pharisees were thinking. So he said to them, “Every kingdom that fights against itself will be destroyed. And every city or family that is divided against itself will not survive.”
Matthew 12:25
We can decide to not compromise, and we can simply adopt the “my way or the highway” attitude, and we will become a house divided by it’s self and we will all lose out.
We can continue letting the world see us as described in Matthew 23:13. Whether we are doing it on purpose or not is irrelevant. We can go on doing the same things as we have always did, all the while expecting a new and different outcome, and no, I am not saying that anyone is insane, other than myself. With everyone losing in the end.
Or we could all be people of good will and compromise so that everyone wins, mostly including the Lord. Even if we were to try it, even if we were to try something like it. What if were able to bring one person to the Lord because of our compromise, would it not be worth it?
To me, we have to be thinking all the time of ways to spread the good news, ways to bring more and more people to the Lord. I for one am not comfortable while I know there is more I could be doing to spread his word and more I could be doing to help gather souls for Jesus. It is my hope that for as long as I live I am not content to ever be comfortable. For when I find that I am getting comfortable, I will seek change. Until next time, may the light of Jesus shine on your face, and may you never be content with comfort.
Our comfort awaits us in Glory in the future.
God bless you all.
Tex
Accepting change allows you to expect a different result!!!!! Compromising allows you to expect a different result!!!!!! If you want a different result you have to change and compromise!!!! I get it Randi!!!!
ReplyDeleteRight on!!!!!!
ReplyDelete