It is the week after Christmas and I am on vacation!  It is about 7 in the morning and my wife is asleep.  I have been up for a little while trying to complete some writing before she wakes up so that we can spend the day together.  As I am sitting here writing letters to some friends one of my little weenie dogs is sitting by my feet and wants some attention.  She stands up on her hind legs and begs for me to pet her.  Her name is Teenie.  She is about 13 yrs old and is in good shape physically but she is starting to go deaf.  That is okay because she never listened too well anyway.

This dog originally belonged to my sister-in-law.  She bought Teenie while she still lived in an apartment.  Because Teenie stayed in the apartment all day, roaming around at will, she learned some bad habits.  The worst habit was she learned to do her business inside.  When the apartment manager found out about Teenie, my sister-in-law had to get rid of her.  We took her in, even though she had some bad habits and even though she wasn’t the friendliest dog and even though we already had a dog.  It took a long time for Teenie’s bad habits to change.  It took years.  Sometimes she still backslides – if you know what I mean.

But we took her in and we have kept her all these years.  My wife loves weenie dogs and just could not resist no matter what Teenie’s background or bad habits were.  It reminds me of what Jesus said in John 6:37

 “He who comes to me I will certainly not cast out.”   John 6:37

I am so glad that the Lord accepts us even with our various backgrounds and bad habits.  He loves us and cannot resist letting us into His Kingdom when we come unto Him!  He does not look at us and say, “Nope, not this one.  He has too many bad habits.  He would be a long term project.”  Our Lord simply opens His arms wide and embraces us!  I am so glad that He does not reject us or cast us out of His Kingdom.  I am so glad that He keeps us in His Kingdom and His grace forever and ever.  We serve an awesome God!

Well, I better go and give that dog some attention before she starts to bark and wake up my wife.  Until next time, may God bless you and your family.

If you would like to know more about a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, you can send me an email directly at pastorpstephens@aol.com