God, Faith, and Bunnies

It's never a bad thing when circumstances or events cause us to think less of ourselves. Even better if we come out thinking more of God.

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One of the difficult parts of my job as a rabbit breeder is the humane euthanasia of certain animals. It is necessary and unavoidable. The rest of that discussion is for another time and place.

In the rabbit show world (aaand we'll pause to let you wrap your head around that concept), breeders are working toward a standard of perfection (SOP) in their animals for the betterment of the breed. That, too, is necessary...and to be discussed elsewhere.

Where the two above statements collide is when a rabbit does not live up to the SOP in matters of aesthetics like nail color, and coat pattern. Those "faults" are removed from the herd so that the culprit genes are not passed down and perpetuated in future generations. Also necessary. There are different methods of culling an undesirable animal. Some are sold as pets. Some are euthanized.
Do you see where this is going?

A week ago, I was seconds away from disposing of an animal who has too many faults against him to be used as breeding stock. I didn't think his temperament would make him a good pet, so he was going. We won't talk about how close it was.
This, in spite of an ingrained belief that every life has value.
Let's pretend that I will never get over the guilt of what I almost did.

"Almost" is the key word, though. I couldn't do it. Because I believe in a God who operates by a different set of rules, and expects his followers to do the same, regardless of what the accepted practice is in the prevailing culture of the day.

I spent a good deal of time that day studying the story of Gideon, decided against the whole fleece idea (yet another discussion for another day), and instead chose to make a promise in faith.

I will not ever destroy an animal for aesthetic reasons. That I even considered it once makes me ill. I cannot avoid the necessity in cases of injury, illness, or on rare occasions, violent temperaments; but my responsibility as a steward of God's creation calls me to a different Standard of Perfection, even if that means feeding an animal that is just "taking up space".

Will God make me successful because I promised to do things His way? I don't know. I didn't ask him to. No fleece, remember? But I did receive confirmation that I'm doing the right thing. Last night, that rabbit with all the faults went home to a little girl who is thrilled with him.

I don't know why God puts up with me, but I am humbled and grateful for his care and attention.

"Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."~ Matthew 6:26-34

Jar of Change

As followers of Christ, we are supposed to hold to a different set of values than that of the world.What is important to us often seems foolish to them, and what they hold in high regard is not necessarily the same for us. At least, that is what we hear often enough from our spiritual leaders. Scripture backs them up as well.

I find it rather paradoxical then that professional sports works it's way into such a large percentage of our worship services. For something that matters so very little in this world, and even less in the one to come, it gets an awful lot of air time. And please, don't cite the example of the Apostle Paul's brief mention of sports as a precedent. I'm not talking about the occasional illustration.

Just to make sure that I am not being a grumpy, non-sports fan, stick-in-the-mud, I'm going to propose an experiment. I intend to designate a jar for this purpose, and fill it with 52 little footballs, basketballs, baseballs, and hockey pucks. What form they'll be in, I'm not sure yet. Each piece will represent a predetermined monetary amount--because I want this experiment to carry some weight. On the first Sunday of January, I'll begin. One piece will be removed on each Sunday in which professional sports is mentioned during the worship service. At the end of the year, whatever amount is left in the jar (by its representational pieces) will be given to our church.
Some stipulations:

• If I miss a Sunday, and don't listen to the recorded message, a piece will not be removed, even if sports was mentioned (because I won't know about it, will I?)
• Relevant illustrations relating to the sermons don't count. Heavy emphasis on relevancy.
• References during announcements should count, but I'll be lenient and let them slide.
• Outside guests speakers get a pass too.
• This is the only time, and only place that I intend to discuss this experiment until it's over. I don't want to skew the results. (I'm pretty sure that my Pastor is not one of the three people who read this blog. If he is, I'm not sorry.)

This feels a little one-sided, and judgmental, which is not my intention. I'm merely trying to see how pervasive sports is in our culture and how much it effects the Church. If would be more informative if I could find people from other churches to keep a tally of the same kind of information (even if it didn't involve money for them). I seriously doubt that my church is the only place this happens.
To level the playing field (sorry), I'm going to think of a task for me to work on as well.

I'll revisit this topic with the results at the end of next year. Let's hope the jar is still really full.

**Nevermind. After thinking this through some more, I have decided not to do it. It puts me in the wrong frame of mind from the start and sets me up for having a resentful attitude. I also puts me in a position of judgement. None of which is what I want. It is enough that the people who care about me know that it is a distraction from worship for me. I can leave it at that.