February 5 - Chickens

Beginning of week 6...what a beginning...

1 John 1:8-10

8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

Today our dog Kiya decided to go on a field trip. Literally, she ran through some fields and had a trip. The high winds blew our fence gate open today and it was a whole new world for her. Huskies naturally hunt and chase after smaller animals for fun and for food. Unfortunately, a nice family a little less than a mile down the road had to be on the receiving end of this lovely trait that Kiya possesses. The family raises chickens, both for show and for livestock. Disaster struck.

Their chickens run loose in their yard, which there is nothing wrong with that, until a hungry wolf picks up on their scent. Kiya did collateral damage and took out at least 7 chickens. I received a phone call from my dad who got the news from the owners, who got my parents number from Kiya's tag. The strange thing is, when my wife and I set out to look for her earlier, we drove passed this house and saw the chickens and I said, "I sure hope she doesn't come down here and see these chickens".

So damage was done. I felt so much remorse and guilt for what Kiya had done. Between my wife and I, I think we apologized over twenty times. Of course, that couldn't revive the chickens. We paid them for the loss, even though the amount we gave and what they asked for barely made up for it. The family who owned the chickens were so understanding and considerate, even though our dog had ambushed their pets, which we all know can be just like family (no matter what kind of animal it is).

What does this have to do with the scripture referenced in 1 John?

This is a perfect illustration of the love of Christ. When we sin, we break God's heart. He knows our sins, just as He knows our hearts. When we claim that we don't sin, we basically say that Christ died for nothing. That simply is not true. Christ took our sins upon himself and paid the fine. He gave everything he had for us.

Two ways to look at this situation:

1) To completely show correlation between God's sacrifice and the chicken story we could twist the story slightly. What if Kiya (who did wrong) still killed the chickens, but the owners of the chickens paid my wife and I money? How insane would that be? Here our dog is killing their pets and they are giving us their money and a lot of it. They are hurt by the damage done, but they want us to receive gifts for what our dog has done. To make it even more strange, the owners give Kiya milkbones, water, and a grooming session to clean up after the massacre.

This is just like the love that Christ has shown us. We killed him. We put him on the cross. We beat him. We sin against him. We deny him. Yet, he stills shows us grace and forgives us. It doesn't make sense does it? God's love is real. That makes sense.

2) What if the owners said, "you know what, these chickens are expensive, but we are going to ask you to just pay a little less than half of what they would cost". They also express that they know it wasn't our fault and sometimes things like this happen. They are understanding and caring.

I don't know whether or not the members of that family are Christians or not, but that is how we should strive to love our lives. My previous post was about controlling our anger and emotions. They could have been furious. They could have called the cops. They could have shot our dog. Many things could have happened, but they were forgiving and understanding through it all.

Christ died for something. Something big. You. And me.