.png)
My wife and I have a wonderful dog that we love very much named Charlie. She was actually our daughter's dog, but when Miriam moved out Charlie stayed. Before Charlie we had a couple of dogs who were very protective of our house. We had a German Shepherd while our kids were growing up and she always made sure they were looked after. If anyone wanted to be by our family they had to get past her first. Before her we had a big retired racing Greyhound. While we were told Greyhounds don't become too attached to children in the family, he was great and watched carefully over them.
Now we have Charlie. As I said before, we love Charlie, but she is not exactly the protective type. During the monsoon season when we hear the thunder or see the lightening we can be sure Charlie is going to crawl up under our feet. She has spent the last few 4th of July's hiding in our shower. Just the other day Mia was outside coming in from the car and I opened the door knowing she would be walking up. Charlie heard someone outside and barked; with the open door she stood behind me to avoid getting too close to whoever might be coming in. Needless to say, she failed guard dog school. Please keep in mind Charlie is an average size dog as she is a mix between a German Shepherd and an Australian Shepherd.
About a week ago this Verse of the Day popped up on my phone from Psalm 56:3, "When I am afraid, I put my trust in You." I thought about how when we are afraid we have a God who loves us and tells us to trust Him. He wants what is best for us. There may be bad things that happen in our lives because we live in a sin filled world, but He will always be there for us. We can rest assured in Him; when we are afraid we can trust in Him.
I guess in some ways Charlie just puts her trust in us, that we will keep her safe and protect her from what is out there. Maybe I have something I can learn from her. If I can put the same trust in God that Charlie puts in Mia or myself then I can be assured He will take care of me. I would challenge all of us to put our trust in God when we are afraid or in challenging times. Huh, I never knew I could learn so much from good old Charlie.