Truly Devoted , livre ebook

Harvest House Publishers, Inc. - H. Norman Wright

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123 pages

English

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Bestselling author and Christian counselor H. Norman Wright (2.7 million books sold) combines biblical principles with his enthusiasm for dogs in this warmhearted and inspiring devotional. In stories of loyalty and perseverance, Norm draws parallels between the dog world and the human world to reveal God's love in action: A dog's tendency to gnaw on bones reflects how people handle worry. Instead, people can give God their fears and experience His peace. A cowering dog becomes joyous when forgiven. When people confess their sins, they receive God's forgiveness and joy returns. A dog who rescues a boy in a tsunami shows how the Holy Spirit convicts people of sin so they'll turn to Christ and be saved. From daily antics to extraordinary deeds, these dogs personify the ups and downs of life and highlight the joys and benefits of following God.

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Philosophie et théologie

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Publié par	Harvest House Publishers, Inc.
Date de parution	01 septembre 2013
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9780736952415
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0369€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS
EUGENE, OREGON
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version , NIV . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011, by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com
Verses marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible , 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. ( www.Lockman.org )
Verses marked AMP are taken from The Amplified Bible, Copyright 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. Used by permission. ( www.Lockman.org )
Verses marked TLB are taken from The Living Bible , Copyright 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189 USA. All rights reserved.
Verses marked MSG are taken from The Message. Copyright by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.
Verses marked RSV are taken from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1946, 1952, 1971 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Cover photos 2012, courtesy of Watts Photography, Bakersfield, CA
Cover design by Left Coast Design, Portland, Oregon
The author and Harvest House Publishers have made every effort to trace the ownership of all quotes and stories. In the event of a question arising from the use of a poem, quote, or story, we regret any error made and will be pleased to make the necessary correction in future editions of this book.
TRULY DEVOTED
Copyright 2013 by H. Norman Wright
Published by Harvest House Publishers
Eugene, Oregon 97402
www.harvesthousepublishers.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wright, H. Norman.
Truly devoted / H. Norman Wright.
pages cm
ISBN 978-0-7369-5240-8 (pbk.)
ISBN 978-0-7369-5241-5 (eBook)
1. Dog owners-Religious life. 2. Dogs-Religious aspects-Christianity-Meditations. I. Title.
BV4596.A54W75 2013
242-dc23
2012047324
All rights reserved. No part of this electronic publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means-electronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any other-without the prior written permission of the publisher. The authorized purchaser has been granted a non-transferable, non-exclusive, and non-commercial right to access and view this electronic publication and agrees to do so only in accordance with the terms of use under which it was purchased or transmitted. Participation in or encouragement of piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of author s and publisher s rights is strictly prohibited.
Contents
Greetings
The Master s Voice
Secret Sins of Your Dog
The Nose Knows
Do Dogs Have Personality?
Homing Instinct
You ve Got to Be Kidding!
Change?
Frank
Lost and Rescued
Peace Is Possible!
Up to No Good
How Close Are You?
Saved
That Still Small Voice
The Wandering Dog
Ten Commandments Part 1
Ten Commandments Part 2
Ten Commandments Part 3
Aging
What Do You See?
Saturated with the Word
Loyalty and Faithfulness
Chewing Is Not a Spiritual Gift
The Word Dog
Lost
The Touch of the Master
Your Pedigree
Guard Dog or Guard Your Dog?
Earthquakes!
If You Believe This
Friendship
Do Dogs Worry?
Obedience Classes
Dancing Dogs
Favorite Dog Stories
Political Dogs
Growing Older
Tsunami Dog
How Do You Love?
What Do You Do?
Walking Our Dogs
Going Fishing
Dream On
George the Pest
Hidden or Found?
What If Your Dog Could Pray?
Good Intentions
Dog Truths or Myths?
A Wounded Healer
Notes
Greetings
I t s been a long day at work. You re looking forward to getting home to your place of refuge. Your mind drifts to a delicious dinner, resting awhile, and all the family members eagerly awaiting your arrival. You pull into the driveway and accidentally on purpose hit the horn to let everyone know you re home so they ll come to greet you. A few seconds go by, and no one comes so you get out of the car and stroll to the door. Still no one around.
You go inside and yell, I m home! Silence. One child runs by and mumbles, Hi, Dad, and keeps on going. You can hear another child in his room judging by the volume of the music. You make your way to the kitchen, expecting dinner to be in progress, but again there are no people around-only a note stating the cook will be late but there s food to put in the microwave.
No one came to greet you. What a letdown! But that doesn t happen to you or me. Why? Yes, you guessed it. We are dog owners! And our pups are always excited to see us. Let s rerun the scenario with them included.
You walk up to the door. What s that sound you hear from inside the house? You tilt your head to hear better. Yes, it s a whine and then a series of barks. The animal on the other side of that door is awaiting your presence. He s so excited to see you! You open the door and there he is. Depending on the breed, the dog may get so excited he piddles on the floor. Or he may run around and around, chasing his tail. Or perhaps he s sitting patiently waiting for a pat on the head. Maybe he s jumping up to lick your face.
Some dogs follow us everywhere we go, while others try to talk to us with their doggy sounds. Some have tails that swish back and forth a mile a minute. Perhaps your dog is trained to bring your slippers to you. Or maybe your dog has OCBD (Obsessive Compulsive Ball Disorder). He brings his tennis ball to you the instant he knows you re coming. I know some dogs who bring their leashes because they want us to walk them. Yes, dogs are wonderful greeters, and we can learn a lot from them.
The Importance of Recognition
We all want to be greeted, welcomed, acknowledged. If we re married, how we greet each other when we meet after an absence is vital. At one of the marriage seminars I conduct, a husband shared, When I get home at the end of the day, I have to go looking for my wife. She never comes to the door to greet me. I get a better greeting from my dog. He comes running to see me, wags his tail like it s going to fall off, runs around me, licks my hand, and makes little barking sounds.
Before I could respond, another husband piped up. You want your wife to do all that?
Soon the entire group was responding to the comment and scenario.
Are you aware that how you and your partner, family members, and even friends greet each other when you first meet at the end of the day sets the tone for the evening? That initial greeting is so critical. The first four minutes establishes the foundation for the rest of the time spent together. If your first contact includes a listing of everything that went wrong during the day, or a list of negatives, or, worse yet, complaints and criticisms of the other person, you can just imagine what the rest of the evening will be like. But if that first contact at the end of the day is similar to the greetings we get from our dogs, what a difference that would make. What if everyone involved was positive and caring and bright during that first four minutes of contact? Later on they could discuss the issues of the day, and everyone would probably be in a better mood and have a better attitude for that process. Yes, dogs model the art of greeting one another joyfully.
One of my favorite authors, Max Lucado, has an interesting story on the impact of how we re greeted when we arrive home. He travels quite a bit, and in The Applause of Heaven he describes what happens when he heads home.
Home. The longest part of going home is the last part-the plane s taxiing to the terminal from the runway. I m the fellow the flight attendant always has to tell to sit down.
There is a leap of the heart as I exit the plane. I almost get nervous as I walk up the ramp. I step past people. I grip my satchel. My stomach tightens. My palms sweat. I walk into the lobby like an actor walking onto a stage. The curtain is lifted, and the audience stands in a half-moon. Most of the people see that I m not the one they want and look past me.
But from the side I hear the familiar shriek of two little girls. Daddy! I turn and see them-faces scrubbed, standing on chairs, bouncing up and down in joy as the man in their life walks toward them. Jenna stops bouncing just long enough to clap. She applauds! 1
Can you imagine what that must be like? To have a family member applaud when she sees you? Dogs don t applaud like we do, but they certainly do it in their special way. Max goes on with his story:
Faces of home. That is what makes the promise at the end of the Beatitudes so compelling: Rejoice and be glad, because great is our reward in heaven.
What is our reward? Home.
The book of Revelation could be entitled the book of Homecoming, for in it we are given a picture of our heavenly home.
John s descriptions of the future steal your breath. His description of the final battle is graphic. Good clashes with evil. The sacred encounters the sinful. The pages howl with the shrieks of dragons and smolder with the coals of fiery pits. But in the midst of the battlefield there is a rose. John describes it in chapter 21:
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, the old order of things has passed away.