A Story of Obedience

Here is story my good friend Mark Tripplet shared with me yesterday. I thought is was a compelling story of obedience describing the calling to obedience required in our relationship to God.

As I rounded the bend in the road this morning I noticed a man walking his dog. There are a lot of folks walking their dogs early in the morning on my route. I am a school bus driver. This man was about my age and had a young Irish Setter on a leash. “Red”, as I called him, was no longer a puppy but not quite a full grown dog yet, and clearly had passed his obedience training with flying colors. My bus is 40 feet long, big and bright yellow, and noisy – very noisy. Most of the dogs along the route will scamper about either trying to hide behind their Master or attempting to break the leash and attack my bus. (I wonder, what in the world does a dog think he could do with a 28,000 lb. school bus?) But, mostly they bark their alarms and take their defensive stance against this huge, yellow monster careening down upon them so early in the day. Not this dog. As the man watched me come round the bend in the road he simply stopped, looked down at Red and gave the command to “sit,” which Red did immediately. Most of the dogs along my route would do the same, along with barking and fidgeting with fear. Not this dog. Red simply kept his eyes fixed on the Master, not concerned with anything but him. To Red there was no yellow monster. To Red there was no thunderous noise. To Red there was only the Master. Red had abandoned all but his loving, trusting gaze on his Master’s face until my bus passed by without incident. Then, the man quietly and gently gave another command to Red and they calmly walked on into their peaceful, morning routine. I was stricken by the overwhelming calm and trust Red had with his Master. I wondered if that is how Jesus wants me to react to all the thunderous noises in my life, all the “yellow monsters” that pose any threat to me. Red seemed at Peace. Peace. Red trusted his Master. Trust. I learned a little something about Peace and Trust from a dog and his Master while driving a school bus early this morning.