Stephen De La Vega

[If you’re able, read Part 1 , then Part 2 , then this post.   This trilogy includes some extraordinary but true animal stories and offers insight into some of our human tendencies, a.k.a., animal instincts.] My dog Izzy has grown almost completely blind and deaf, and her sensitivity to odors is failing as well.   We rescued her from a shelter so we don’t know her complete care history or even how old she is.   But she’s been in our family for over 10 years and she’s definitely showing signs of old age.   Often, when she stops during her walks, she loses her bearings and starts up again in a different direction.   Even when I tug on her leash, she somehow believes that her poor sense of smell is a better compass than her master's guidance.   And, inside the house, she bumps into walls and furniture, and often bumps around in circles because she doesn’t know which way is right. Izzy is out of her comfort zone.   As her owner, I’m also...

Paul was a man on a mission. Why wouldn’t he be? He was commissioned by God. God chose Him, told Him what to do, and empowered Him. Paul committed to God’s plan and got it done. He was a doer and he pursued God’s plan with boldness and tireless passion. The sobering truth is God also commissioned us… Maybe we see Paul as a superhero, or, humanly speaking, a really, extraordinary person.   The one-of-a-kind guy we’re tempted to emulate using the social media shortcut.   He’s a luminary we might celebrate in history books, but maybe not the type we’d ever attempt to become ourselves.   He’s just too far off the charts.   I mean, it’s nice to dream, but we’re not Jesus, right? No, we’re not Jesus and we really are severely handicapped when it comes to living as He did.   We are “prone to wander…to leave the God [we] love,” as Hymnodist Robert Robinson penned in 1757 ( Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing ).   But Paul, though human like us, someh...

My son participated in a community-wide summer youth orchestra and concert. During his practices I went to the gym after dropping him off. One week when I entered the locker room to stow my gear, I noticed a man looking a bit lost. There were other men nearby, but for some reason, he approached me and told me his lock didn’t fit on the lockers. He’d been trying a locker with a bent padlock loop so I tested his lock on another locker…right next to my usual one. It worked and he was pleased and thankful. On my next visit to the gym, I noticed his lock on my favorite locker. “Really?,” I thought. “Of all the lockers in this room, he took mine?” I saw him after my workout and we chatted a bit. His name is Will. I found out he usually exercises in a gym 15 miles south of mine, but his daughter was also in the same summer orchestra as my son. (Still, I wondered why he chose my locker.) The third time I saw him at the gym (using my locker), I handed him an announcement car...

We’ve all listened. We put our ears to a sea shell so we could hear the ocean. Of course, what we really heard is the resonance of the noise in our immediate environment, but we can truthfully say God made the science of sound, and, yes, He put the ocean in the shells. How did He put something so big into something we can hold in our hands? This is more awesome to ponder with the imagination of a child. ”Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” Mark 10:14-15 Let’s engage the wonder of a child when we read this post. Pause a moment. Put on your creative thinking caps, because we are going to take a journey to where we may have never been before or perhaps have forgotten. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1 The heavens declare the glor...