BIBLE LESSONS FROM OUR PETS by DAVID SMITH

It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!



You never know when I might play a wild card on you!

Today's Wild Card author is:

David Smith

and the book:

Bible Lessons from Our Pets

PCG Legacy (August 30, 2011)

***Special thanks to Susan Otis of Creative Resources for sending me a review copy.***

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

David Smith is small business owner with interests in real estate investment. He is an avid pet lover who has observed God’s grace in life through his cat, Bling. As someone who loves God and enjoys seeing His blessings and goodness, David has learned to be sensitive to God’s voice through His creation. David lives in Yakima, Washington with his wife, Buffy, and their cat.



Visit the author's website.

SHORT BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Are you frustrated by not hearing God’s voice? Do you think that the Lord is WAY out there with nothing to tell you? Or do you question His existence all together? Well, I’m here to tell you that He is a lot closer than many of us think He is. Our Heavenly Father is trying to tell us something, if we are open, and He has been speaking to us in ways that we may have never considered. “How?,” you may ask. The Lord has always used the works of His hands to proclaim His great might. If you are wondering, you can see who the Lord is, just by looking out of your window, or by taking a drive though your state, county, province, or country. Have you ever seen pictures of the deepest crevasses of the ocean where life still takes hold? If so, you have just seen a picture of God’s depth as a person and how many layers there are to his character. If you have ever driven by the Colorado Rockies you have just witnessed the jagged strength that the Lord posses; His unfathomable power. One only needs to review the aftermath of Mount St. Helens for them to grasp God’s righteous anger. The Apostle Paul spoke of these evidences of God in Romans 1:20, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.” God is not out there watching without love, but is constantly reaching out to speak to all of His children through the works of His hands.



David Smith has assembled a number of contributors to share their experiences of their pets and what they had learned of God. From faith to faithfulness, we uncover the messages laid out from the Lord.



Laugh your stress away with animal misadventures, such as this one:



I think our cat has a love affair with a portable heater. It may sound crazy, but it’s completely true. Almost any chance she gets, she’s face first in front of the heater, “catching some sun,” as Buffy and I like to call it. She even lies in front of the heater in anticipation of it being turned on. Our Bling is obsessed! One day, she got a little too close to her best friend and the whiskers on the right side of her face were singed badly. I would have thought she would have given the heater a rest after leaving the right side of her face smoldering, however, she returned to her love, regardless of the dangers. “Isn’t this just like me,” I thought, “after getting too close to sin and getting burned, I go back for more pain.” I don’t think it’s just me that has walked on the hot coals of sin only to turn around and walk on that fiery path again, but I’m sure everyone has been there and wears the t-shirt. Proverbs 26:11 describes this perfectly, “As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his foolishness.” Now I don’t know about you, but going back to eating my puke is not too appetizing. Vomit has nasty chunks in it, smells, and, well, that pretty much describes it, but sin generally has the same appearance, but only to the trained eye. When I lie, it’s to protect myself in the moment from an argument, or being hurt, but what I’m not always seeing is the damage it’s doing to my heart and to my relationship with the Lord. When I go back to sin, whatever that sin is, it leaves a nasty vomit aftertaste in my heart, and this aftertaste becomes a barrier between me and the Lord. God wants to be close to his children, but if the smell of vomit is emanating our heart, then He may not want to come too close. As believers, we ought to keep our hearts cleaned up so that we are ready to be in the Lord’s presence. Jesus said in Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” So let’s watch what we see, say, and do because God is just waiting to have a deeper relationship with us!




So let David Smith and friends take you down a path of experiencing God through a whole new way, your pets! Job proclaimed in the Old Testament, “But ask the animals and they will teach you, or the bird of the air and they will tell you.” You will be surprised by what your dog or cat can teach you about God. Perhaps God is trying to speak to you through your parakeet? Go ahead. Curl up in your kitty beds and lock your doggy doors to prepare yourself for this new adventure.

Product Details:
List Price: $12.95
Mass Market Paperback: 144 pages
Publisher: PCG Legacy (August 30, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1936417251
ISBN-13: 978-1936417254

AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:

Scaredy Cat

By David Smith

It’s another fine afternoon in Yakima, Washington, complete with dimming, cloudless skies. Most of the time in the morning and in the evening I will stand by at my window and drink a strong cup or coffee as I look out at the beautiful valley that I live in. I can see snow on the hills in the distance and orchards and birds and so many wonderful things. I never tire at looking and nature and taking it all in like a big deep breath. Many times my cat Bling is with me. She is a window connoisseur as well! If there is such a thing as reincarnation I must have been a cat! My cat is an indoor and outdoor cat. We love letting her out to be her wild and ferocious self. She loves to hunt and torture poor little mice and birds and she’s very good at it! On this particular day, Bling looks up at me with her big begging eyes and meows at me as she stands at the door. She wants to go outside, as usual. So I open the door but she just stands there sniffing the air like she just smells a campfire in the distance or some really good barbeque! I say to her “go on girl, go outside now” in my sweet kitty speaking voice. But she just stands there. She seems very hesitant and yet I know she wants to go out. Why is she just standing there? What is the problem? I start to get impatient because it is a little chilly and I’m tired of standing there trying to encourage her that it’s okay to go outside. She continues to stand there and I give her one last chance to make a run for it. But she decides to stay in. I close the door. This scenario has been repeated on multiple occasions and is definitely not my first rodeo with Bling. Now it’s too late and she waited too long; instead of going outside she delays and stares. I can tell that she wants to go outside, but is paralyzed. By what? I wish I knew, but I’d like to think it’s because she’s afraid of the unknown. Maybe there is something out there she’s afraid? There could be a dog, rain, or domineering male cats. Either way she’s being a scaredy cat! So she waits too long, the door is closed and now it’s dark outside. It’s too late!

“How often does this happen to me?” I thought. God opens a door, that opportunity I’ve been waiting for, and then by the time I decide to go through it, it’s too late. Bam!!! The door has been closed; Job opportunities, investments, relationships, and career changes, all passed by. Why? Well, in the past, the fear of change, the fear of rejection, the fear of the unknown, and the fear of moving beyond my comfort zone have become road-blocks to potential successes in my life. Hmmm, I’m sensing a trend! Fear, many times, becomes a paralyzing force in my life, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Deuteronomy 31:6 tells us me to “be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave nor forsake you.” Stepping into courage is the antidote to living in fear. I am learning that life is more of an adventure when I take the step and go through the door! For instance I have been wanting to writing a book in which I could share some of the revelations I have had from watching my cat. I have never been an author, but I have a desire in my heart to be, and feel that God put that desire in my heart. Who am I to argue with God!? So many times I thought that I couldn’t do something like this because I never had the experience or the platform to do so, but the Bible says “with God all things are possible!” What’s the worst thing that could happen? I could lose a little money, no one likes it, and I have a lot of books lying around. That’s no reason not to try! It’s hard to believe that my cat taught me to get off my behind and do something new regardless of what obstacles lay in my path, but she did; now I think she can learn a few things from me like how to clean her own litter box or get a job and start contributing to her own food bowl! Maybe Bling really is paralyzed by fear, or maybe she’s just a silly cat, but she showed me another lesson that “God uses the foolish things of this world to confound the wise.”

Now Our Review:

David Smith has assembled 44 short pet stories, some by him, but most by others. I can honestly say I read every one of them. Some are better than others and all relate back to a Bible verse.

There are black and white photos of some of the pets in the stories. There are also cartoonish illustrations throughout the book that don’t relate to the stories whose pages they grace, but they are cute.

This is an easy, quick read and one you can put down and pick up again at any time. There are grammatical errors and misspellings, but the stories aren’t written by professional writers.  As an editor, I would have liked to get my hands on this volume before it went to press, but no book is ever perfect. This one simply has a few more mistakes than average.

The tales in Bible Lessons From Our Pets are told about much-loved companions with an effort to tie them to a Biblical lesson, this is more successful in some cases than others. Read them uncritically and you’ll enjoy them more.

—Gail Lewis