Fearless Faith

There is no trophy like a dog trophy. Never a mere participation award, dog trophies are earned by finding something rank and dragging it back home or bringing other small critters dead or alive to the back step until the vanquisher is praised to no end. At great risk of compromising my age, I believe our dogs are far and above the Lassie variety that some of us remember rescuing little Timmy from the bottom of a well. Instead, they earn their commendations and keep by assuring us that they will keep local coyotes at bay, maintain the cats at just the right distance (think “social distancing” for canines) and of great importance, sleep all day so that they can bark all night. It truly is a dog’s life with a little help from us humans.

Our Aussie sheep dog insists on epitomizing the image of toughness, but initially balked when we named her Sugar. We compromised by re-configuring her name to “Sugrrr” in an attempt to massage her ego and underscore her gentle ferocity. Our other dog, part cattle dog, part Aussie, has only one trophy in mind, the one that soars far above the rest, the ultimate prize known as The Green Tennis Ball. Each successful “fetch” incorporates a sweeping victory loop for which he reserves boundless energy.

So many conclusions that we draw regarding others are based on who we are, our perception of who others are, and a deeper, truer reality that lies somewhere in between. Our pedigrees contribute broad strokes, but it is more often social and political elements that reflect our personhood as much as anything. That is especially true in these early trying days of a viral pandemic. Most of us have rarely experienced this degree of disruption in our lives (a deeper discussion for another time), something that might continue without resolution for a while. Of value is the fact that human beings have a propensity to rise and meet the hardships that we face. Can we get on board with a steeper learning curve than we have experienced in recent decades? We don’t know yet what trophies will be distributed when things begin to move in the direction of a new normal, but our most valuable trophies will reflect the heart and soul of humanity, all those who fervently strive to make life better in every direction and who do so with eagerness and compassion.

Heroes will emerge out of the pandemic from unexpected places, common unvarnished varieties who desire neither the attention nor accolades accompanying trophy presentations that too often focus on the giver and not the recipient. Neighbors, friends and strangers will surprise us in good and unexpected ways and, as history is written for these times, we will readily recognize the persons we deem heroic. They will be the quiet one’s going about their everyday business and sharing the compassion of Jesus, regardless of who takes notice.

The apostle Paul recognized the house churches in Corinth and experienced their resiliency first-hand, people who lived a much more difficult life than most of us dare claim today.

“ If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives … we’ve been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we’re not demoralized; we’re not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we’ve been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn’t left our side; we’ve been thrown down, but we haven’t broken... (2 Cor. 4:7-9, MSG).

We don’t have to add “grrr” to our names to be tough or to quality for trophies of sorts. We simply have to apply ourselves to the problem and amazing things can happen.