Christian Living

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Larry Lilly's Letter Wednesday September 6, 2006

The converse of yesterday's article is the ability to see the serious side of humor. Take the well traveled 'Talking Dog Story' for instance:

A guy is driving around Wadsworth, Ohio and he sees a sign in front of a house: "Talking Dog For Sale." He rings the bell and the owner tells him the dog is in the backyard. The guy goes into the backyard and sees a Labrador retriever sitting there. "You talk?" he asks. "Yep," the Lab replies. "So, what's your story?" The Lab looks up and says, "Well, I discovered that I could talk when I was pretty young. I wanted to help the government, so I told the CIA about my gift, and in no time at all they had me jetting from country to country, sitting in rooms with spies and world leaders, because no one figured a dog would be eavesdropping. I was one of their most valuable spies for eight years running." "But the jetting around really tired me out, and I knew I wasn't getting any younger so I decided to settle down. I signed up for a job at the airport to do some undercover security wandering near suspicious characters and listening in. I uncovered some incredible dealings and was awarded a batch of medals. I got married, had a mess of puppies, and now I'm just retired." The guy is amazed. He goes back in and asks the owner what he wants for the dog. "Ten dollars," the guy says. "Ten dollars? This dog is amazing. Why on earth are you selling him so cheaply?" "Because he's lying, he never did any of that stuff."

The serious is the dog can talk and yet he thinks this is not enough, so he adds to, embellishes his true gift with fanciful tales designed to increase his esteem in the eyes of others.

Why is that we humans, declared by our creator to be fearfully and wonderfully made, somehow think we must present ourselves as more than God made us?

I recently heard a 21 year old preacher tell about his many years of traveling for Jesus. He seemed to be totally oblivious to the fact that the entire audience had turned him off. In substance his sermon was pretty good, yet he ruined the impact by attempting to 'add' to the gift Christ has given to him.

Several years ago the Vice President of a noted Christian University was the guest speaker in our church. I talked with him about our plans to have ten thousand people in attendance later that year in August. Dale Evans, then in her late 70's was our featured guest. We rented the football stadium. It rained with thunder storms, 97 degrees and we came nowhere near our stated goal. Yet that winter when the Vice President introduced me prior to a sermon to a large crowd at the school he told the folks that I had ten thousand in church. I had never bragged about my failure, so it was not his fault. To this day I feel shame when I remember that I let the false statement stand. I am who God made me, ten thousand or not. And so are you His workmanship. Rejoice in His work.

Larry Lilly Copyright 2006 Use with credit.

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