I can vividly remember cruising through our neighborhood in the ’58’ Chevy pick-up that my Dad purchased. It was our “new” truck.
The only thing that it had going for it, in my mind, was that it was awful green instead of awful rusty. Dad threatened to strip the metal back off for a state-of-the-art wooden platform that was an island “with-it” statement. I didn’t see this as helpful to the teenage image that I was carefully constructing. I guess I saw it as a “poverty thing”.
I never knew we were poor until I turned thirteen. Call me “Shallow Karl” . . . I was. Today I could drive that same truck down the main street of my town without doing psycho-social damage to myself.
The neighborhood dogs knew our truck and hated it. Dad had this thing about dogs peeing on the wheels. The remedy was a spark coil that he installed in the truck. He would drive into these dog infested places, park, and discreetly lower a metal chain to touch the ground. A flip of the switch in the cab and we were electrified. I can still see my Dad gleefully watch some unsuspecting canine approach the truck, just waiting for the dog to lift a leg and “mark” the truck, as dogs do.
Some of you understand by now, what would happen next. The charged and grounded Chevy would provide an electrical surge that would follow the pee stream, providing an unforgettable and traumatic experience. This was dog repellent at its finest. Perhaps that was why the dogs consistently greeted the truck by either running alongside barking furiously (those who had only heard dog rumors) or whimpering and heading for some remote back yard (those who had the actual experience).
I never understood why dogs chased vehicles anyway. My question was, what they would do with one if they caught it.
Now this is a long preamble to ask ourselves about the things that we chase as well. We chase “converts” or “decisions” with the same lack of intention. What are we going to do with them if we “catch” them?
The Great Commission is the answer. The end game is making disciples. John 6:44 says: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him . . . “ God’s part is “chasing” decisions . . . we have some part to play with God in making disciples. The greatest part for every one of us is “being” disciples ourselves, not just for 90 minutes on Sunday but 24/7.
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