“You people really know everything, don’t you?
    And when you die, wisdom will die with you!
Well, I know a few things myself…

“Just ask the animals, and they will teach you.
    Ask the birds of the sky, and they will tell you.
Speak to the earth, and it will instruct you.
    Let the fish in the sea speak to you.
For they all know…

“But true wisdom and power are found in God;
    counsel and understanding are his.”

Job 12:1-13 (selected verses)

• Note: I do not do get paid for any content on this blog! In fact, I pay WordPress to keep the advertising off. I will promote my own work, of course (see my Amazon page for a listing of my books), but everything else is simple a reflection of what is going on in my life.

That said, I am going to give kudos to my friends at Dirty Dogs Spa (Heritage Lake Road), who took care of our Labradoodle, Scout, for many years and are now pampering Max, our ginormous Golden Retriever.

Max has a beautiful coat – more like a lion’s mane, really – and it keeps him warm in the winter. But for the summer it’s just too much. He was getting hot, dirty, and matted; plus his shedding has generated tumbleweed sized clumps throughout the house. What Max needed was a fairly significant haircut but without loosing his shape.

There are two reasons, then, for this post. First, I really am grateful for Dirty Dogs Spa and their good work. Then, having subjected Max to one of my invasive paparazzi-esque photo-shoots, I decided not only are the pictures worth sharing but they fit beautifully with a favorite scripture of mine.

It is where Job is responding to the “sage advice” of his so-called friends. First, he lays on the sarcasm pretty thick, saying “You people really know everything, don’t you. And when you die, wisdom will die with you!”

Job points out, essentially, that even the animals grasp the truth about the ways of God with more understanding than many people!

“Just ask the animals, and they will teach you.
    Ask the birds of the sky, and they will tell you.
Speak to the earth, and it will instruct you.
    Let the fish in the sea speak to you.
For they all know…”

Job is right. Because there is so much evidence, all around us, that we as human beings have been placed in an environment where it should be obvious how we should respond to the fact of a Creator.

So thanks, Max, for being such a lovely example of a gargantuan Golden Retriever, and such a compelling witness to the goodness of God.

Enjoy these photos – DEREK