I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment. (Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me.)Philemon 1:10
Wonder dogs led busy lives,what with saving Timmy from the well, fighting Nazis, bringing Christmas to orphans, preparing 7 course meals and such."How did they do it?" you ask, and of course I've been waiting to tell you: Discipline. They were well-trained and -coached, and if they could bark on cue, the humans could always "read their mind" and give the kids at home some "exposition". "Woof woof woof" meant "Oh no! Little Timmy's in the well" "Woof WOOFwoof" meant "Ol' Heinie the butcher is a Nazi spy!" "Ruffwoof urrrrr" meant "So you want fries with that?"
But those were 'Celebrity Canines', far outside my experience. Take Useless for instance. He was a nondescript little Heinz 57 of a mutt. My dad took one look at him and declared, "There's a useless pothound if I ever saw one!" and the name stuck. Many a summer evening found me wandering amongst the fireflies and skeeters hollering for that dog: "Useless. U-U-Useless. UseLE-ESS!" But he must have been a collaborator, because we never got any idiots out of wells or nabbed any spies, and if there were fries, I never saw them. I did discover one thing though. For him to join the ranks of Wonder Dogs would require far more than I could do. It would need a change of heart. Useless liked me. He loved to have me pet him and play with him, but when it came to business, well, I minded him a lot better than he minded me!
I know, you see it coming, "Which Dog Are You?" So? Lassie or Useless? Selfless or Selfish? Famous or Infamous? Try it from this angle: Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 1 Peter 5:6
