Trained by a Dog

Never, ever take your eye off the Master

By Pastor Alan Johnson, Urban Heights Covenant Church

My wife and I purchased an Irish setter pup while living in Chicago and knew training would be particularly important in the city, so I bought a recommended dog training book and decided to follow every step.  A few months into training, everything was going well and our pup was ready to learn to “heel” — to walk on my left with her head next to my knee.

The book said to attach a long line to her collar with the instruction that “when your dog goes on the opposite side of a tree or post, keep walking but don’t look back.”  She did, I never stopped, and that one time taught her the first lesson in learning to heel: “Never allow anything to come between you and the master.”

Step two used the same long line with instructions that “when she tangles, keep walking but don’t look back.” The line went tight, I kept going, and just then I passed a woman who said, “Do you know you’re dragging your puppy?” Totally embarrassed, I stopped to explain the training, my pup untangled, and from then on my dog never let that line go tight. Lesson Two: “Never allow any distance to come between you and the master.”

Before long she was heeling perfectly and even sat when we stopped. We began taking walks without the leash and one afternoon, as we crossed a busy four-lane street, a car unexpectedly pulled out to pass in the lane we were about to enter. I immediately stopped, my unleashed dog sat, and the car missed us by an arm’s length. She had learned lesson three: “Never, ever, take your eyes off the master,” and it had saved her life.

As a Christian, I have found myself considering these lessons, but not for my dog — for me.

As the saying goes, “When God seems distant, guess who moved?” I have returned to the disciplines that keep me at his side —  a good place for any of us as we navigate this busy life.One night I was awakened with the thought that despite a full schedule of good work, I wasn’t as close to Jesus as I wanted to be.  In the darkness I recalled the lessons:  “Don’t let anything come between you and the master; never allow any distance to come between you and the master; and never, ever, take your eyes off the master.”