My Homework Ate the Dog

My daughter was in the middle of a science project. We clipped pictures for days. Little paper snippets of every class of animal covered my dining room floor. They soon migrated through the living room and by the second week, the herd spread menacingly toward the family room.

"Hey, I found another invertebrate!" It was weird- I was getting excited about finding creatures that I faithfully pay to have exterminated! A family can only gather animals for so long before everyone begins to feel the strain. I think we even felt a little Noah-esche-except the creatures were going into a notebook instead of an ark.

Still, it was the project that just wouldn't die. It seemed that the more animals we gathered, the more we had left. As the project entered the family room and headed for the desk and sofa, I got a little worried that the thing might eventually take over the entire house. I tried to pick up parts of it when we were expecting company, but I think that caused it to replicate more quickly. I would pick up a mammal only to find three amphibians hiding underneath. Do other science projects generate spontaneously?

Maybe it was just me, but by about 2:00 a.m. the morning that the project was due, not only were the animals multiplying, but they were starting to look hungry. I wondered if I should hide the family pets That would be a new one for the teacher: "My homework ate the dog."

There is something, however, that we really do like to see growing, expanding and multiplying: faith! When faith multiplies, so does the Father's pleasure. The Message puts Hebrews 11:6-7 this way, "It's impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that He exists and that He cares enough to respond to those who seek Him. By faith, Noah built a ship in the middle of dry land. He was warned about something he couldn't see, and acted on what he was told. The result? His family was saved. His act of faith drew a sharp line between the evil of the unbelieving world and the rightness of the believing world. As a result, Noah became intimate with God."

If we really want to please God, then we also want our faith to grow and to spread in a science-project style of multiplication. Like Noah, things we can't see can become opportunities to exercise faith-filled obedience.

That faithful obedience draws a sharp line. It's a line infinitely more important than the separation of vertebrates and invertebrates. It's a line between evil and right. The result is enormously mind-boggling: intimacy with God. Nothing could be sweeter!

Though nothing is sweeter, I have to admit it was pretty sweet to get that scary project out of the house. I think my daughter even got an A. But that stray dog that used to come around? We never saw him again.

If you're interested, there is more information about:
The most important event of all time and
The most important Book of all time.

email this message to a friend   |   DW Home

Contributed by Rhonda Rhearrhea@juno.comRhonda Rhea writes for dozens of great Christian publications and speaks at conferences and events across the country. You can find her new book, Amusing Grace, at your local Christian bookstore. Rhonda's husband, Richie Rhea, is a pastor in Troy, Missouri. You can reach them through her Web site atwww.rhondarhea.net