A Man and His Dog

You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.

My dad had a dog named Tipper.  This was definitely my dad’s dog.  He would follow my dad anywhere.  We lived on a farm; if my dad went out to fix the fence the dog would follow him.    At night, the dog would wait for my dad to sit down and then come and sit right beside him in the chair.  This dog was not a small dog, and yet he had to share the chair with my dad.  If we were eating, the dog would come and lay right at the table beside him. There were very few times that you would see my dad and the dog was not close by.   Tipper liked all of us, but he loved my dad.  He loved him so much that he wanted to be close to him.  He wasn't content to sit and wait for my dad.  He had to be wherever my dad was.  We had chickens that we had to keep out of the road.  When he got that dog we no longer had a job.  The dog would keep the chicken right near the barn.  That’s how much he loved my dad.  He loved my dad so much that he would do anything to please him, and my dad loved that dog.  The dog was probably the most obedient dog I have ever seen.  It was obedience born out of love. My dad didn't do anything to make the dog love him. Likewise, the dog did nothing special that my dad should love him.  They just loved each other. What a wonderful picture of the relationship God wants to have with us.  He desires for us to love him the way he loves us unconditionally. He wants to be the first thing on our mind in the morning and the last thing on our mind at night.  He want us to desire to be so close to him that we have to be in his presence, and whatever he wants is what we will do; not because we have to but because we want to.  He wants us to desire him more than anything else.  Is God the first and the last thing on your mind each day?  Do we love him so much that nothing else matters except him?  If not set your heart on him; it’s what your heart needs and what God desires.  Let your spirit commune with God.

I Come To The Garden Alone  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWyufa8KTQs

I come to the garden alone 

While the dew is still on the roses 
And the voice I hear falling on my ear 
The Son of God discloses. 

He speaks, and the sound of His voice, 
Is so sweet the birds hush their singing, 
And the melody that He gave to me 
Within my heart is ringing. 

I'd stay in the garden with Him 
Though the night around me be falling, 
But He bids me go; through the voice of woe 
His voice to me is calling. 

Refrain: 
And He walks with me, and He talks with me, 
And He tells me I am His own; 
And the joy we share as we tarry there, 
None other has ever known.