Dave's Deep Thoughts

 

 

Here's Pastor Dave McDowell's weekly devotional that he sends out to members of his church. Dave is my brother and serves as the Music Minister at Stewartstown UMC  in PA.

 

Let's just say...

they are four words that you don't want to hear on your day off,

or any day for that matter.

Your dog has fleas.

I had taken my dog to the groomers

for his regular appointment.

When I arrived, he looked great, as usual

I always ask how he behaved.....

(the dog, not the groomer)

and the groomer said,

Oh, he did fine,

but did you know that he has fleas?

I've been down this road before.

I live on a farm.

Even with the most stringent

use of preventatives,

my dog occasionally picks up fleas.

My day off agenda had just changed before my eyes.

So long, mid afternoon siesta.....

Goodbye, leisurely lunch....

Farewell, football game.

No, I knew there was a summons to war,

a war that was raging in my house,

in my car, in my life.

There is nothing that says day off

like flea bombing your house.

There is nothing that says day of rest

like 5 wash loads of bedspreads, towels, and rugs.

There is nothing that says take a break,

like vacuuming all your rugs and upholstery.......twice.

After 4 hours of waging a war in the name of household hygiene,

I knew it was time to look the enemy straight in the face.

That would be the flea shampoo bath.

We affectionately call it, the hose down.

My dog knows he is headed to the chambers

when I take off his collar.

He knows he is headed to his dark night of the soul

when I open the shower door.

I use all the cliches known to mankind during this

40 minute exorcism.......

I am doing this for your own good.

This hurts me as much as it hurts you.

Later on, you'll thank me for doing this.

When you're older, you'll understand.

And all I get is those sad water soaked eyes

that say,

why are you doing this to me?

By 10pm,

I had done everything I could think of.

That's why the next day hurt so much.

After the flea bombing, after the laundry,

after the vacuuming, after the hose down.....

the next day,

he still had them.

I knew then,

that I wasn't dealing with some sub-ranking demon,

but the very beast itself.

If I had looked closer during the hose down,

I probably would have found his mark.

I took the beast out of the house.

Off came the bedspreads ..... again

on went the washer.....again

full speed ahead on the vacuum.

Bombs away with flea bomb #2

Surely, a second assault would bring me the victory that I craved.

Three hours later,

I decided that I had done all that I could do,

except for hose down #2.

I decided to let my dog outside

while I went to run some errands

I could take him to the hose down chamber when I got back.

I had forgotten one tiny thing.

My dog knows how to get into the house.

Despite the lack of opposable thumbs,

he knows how to open the door that has a handle instead of a knob.

When I arrived home,

I saw the open door, and knew immediately....

the beast was in the house.

My house had become a leper colony....again.

Unclean, I cried......Unclean!

In his panic to find me,

he had raced through the entire house.

He and his legion had been EVERYWHERE.

I had looked the beast squarely in the eyes,

and the beast was laughing at me.

Crank up the washer,

Rev up the vacuum.

Activate flea bomb #3

Hose down #2, this time so intense

that it made a deep tissue massage

look like a tickling

I may not have started this,

but I was sure determined to finish it.

Two days later,

and I was still laundering towels and rugs.

Still spraying, still vacuuming.

But I have not seen any signs of the beast.

But the odd thing was,

through it all

my dog looked good.

 

He still had that fresh groomer cut.

He received all sorts of compliments.

And yet I knew a different reality.

That's the way it is with humans as well.

I listen to voiced prayer concerns in worship each Sunday.

90% of all concerns are for other people.

Don't get me wrong,

there is nothing wrong with praying for other people.

We are commanded to do that.

But rarely do you hear a concern like this mentioned in church....

I confess I have a problem with my temper.

or

I have a problem with envy. I need your prayers.

or

I am struggling in my faith, I need the church to pray me through this.

You might hear those types of prayers at a 12 step meeting,

but rarely in the assembly of the believers.

As Christians in this culture,

we have learned to hide our spiritual fleas

instead of opening ourselves up for cleaning, healing, restoration.

But like the fleas that my dog was carrying,

our unconfessed spiritual fleas seldom remain a small problem.

They spread. They become legion.

It's not easy to confess our shortcomings to one another

Because we know that on the outside,

we can look good,

just like my dog.

But that doesn't make us clean.

Hose downs aren't fun,

neither is acknowledging our sins,

but it's the only way to rid ourselves of the fleas.

Confess your sins to one another,

and pray for one another,

so that you may be healed.

The effective prayer of a righteous man

can accomplish much.

James 5:16

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