Our dog Murphy hates to be left alone.

Since I am primarily the one home with the animals throughout the day, I’ve become accustomed to hearing ever-present, rhythmic clickety-clack of little doggy feet following close behind. Even if I’m just going inside to refill my coffee cup, there he will be. He’s not taking any chances. Murphy is a people person.

So, with this in mind, you can imagine Murphy’s terror and indignation when my short-term memory failed me for the very first time! and we left for Audrey’s middle school Open House without letting him back in from a potty break.

When we arrived home two hours later, our back door (which I thought had been locked), was hanging wide open. I glanced around, making sure there wasn’t anything out of place, but everything looked as we had left it. I poked my head out onto the screened-in porch, and guilt set in as I saw that a bottom section of the screen door had been bust through, Kool-Aid style. Murphy had been left alone, and he was NOT having it. He pawed (or ate) his way back into the porch and then somehow got the inside door open (maybe with the help of the cats?). I wish I had video! Poor Murphy.

I was so grateful that all three animals were safe and accounted for, since the cats could easily have stepped through the gaping hole in the screen and disappeared forever. I am equally grateful that Ben is handy (and gracious towards his forgetful wife) and was able to fix the screen easily within a couple days.

I had no idea that our home or animals were not secure. God was kind to us. However, now that we knew there was a problem, it would have been irresponsible and downright dumb not to fix it. We would have been inviting trouble into our lives.

I see a life-parallel or two in this line of thinking.

I majored in stupidity in my teens and early twenties, and yet by the grace of God I was kept safe (broken and bruised, but still in one piece) until I admitted my way wasn’t working. I knew I needed the love and protection found in Christ.

Once I started reading God’s word for myself and actually applying it to the way I lived, I saw the beauty in the boundaries God gives to his people. I would have been dumb to intentionally go outside that safety and back to the sin which promised everything and delivered nothing.

Did I mention how stupid I was?

Though I had long periods of real growth and obedience, I had areas of my old life I never let go of. Not completely.

I knew that leaving myself open to attachments and old habits outside of God’s will would bring nothing but destruction, yet sometimes I gave in anyway. I drank way too much. I was in relationships I had no business being in.

Before I was saved, my sin didn’t bother me. It was just normal. But I knew better now. Been there, done that, had the scars to prove it. And yet…

The guilt was crushing and I knew I looked like such a hypocrite to everyone around me. I hate this part of my story, honestly. I’m deeply sorry I was such a bad witness.

Thankfully, by the help and conviction of the Holy Spirit, I finally grabbed onto one truth like a drowning person clutches onto a life raft: I didn’t have to stay there.

I wanted God’s way. For real. in every corner of my heart and mind: my theology, my time, my relationships, my words and actions (my life!) had to line up with the word of God or I was just leaving myself open to trouble!

With heart change comes life change. Thank you, God. I no longer have any desire to do things contrary to his will for my life. It’s never worth it.

Not that I don’t mess up. I do, constantly. I just refuse to stay there.

Thankfully, my story isn’t about my faithfulness to God, but about his faithfulness to me!

So.

Are there any holes in your porch?

Angela (and Murphy)