Doug McGuire was the Senior Minister of Trinity Methodist Church through the 1960’s. He was a great guy. In his retirement he acquired his private pilot’s license. Years ago, I was known to spend hours in the air with Doug. Doug has gone on to his reward. He was filled with preacher aphorisms. His advice was wise. He encouraged, “Always enter the pulpit with a full heart and an empty bladder. And don’t get them reversed!” He also said, “If a sermon is worth preaching once it is worth preaching again.” I wonder if that holds true for these articles.

To wit.

A dog was on a safari with this master, but he got lost chasing butterflies. He then noticed out of his peripheral vision that a lion was slowly sneaking up to attack him. He saw a pile of bones nearby. Pretending not to see the lion, the dog started chomping on a bone. He hollered, “Boy, the lion sure tasted good!” The lion decided that this must be a very ferocious dog, so he left.

But a monkey watched all of this. He chased down the lion and told him the truth. Furious, the lion turned around to go eat the dog. The monkey jumped on the lion’s back intending to watch the whole thing unfold before him. Realizing what had happened, the quick-thinking dog grabbed another bone and hollered, “Where is that stupid monkey? He should have brought me another lion by now!”

It is a great story. Don’t you wish you could be like that dog and be that quick witted? Sure you do! When someone zings you at work, you stew about it all that night and you finally figure out what you could have said to that person. Or after an argument you stew until you finally think of what you should have said.

In my line of work, I want to be comforting and Godly when someone seeks my wisdom or advice. Often, I am neither and I toss and turn until I come up with a better answer to a person’s question or concern.

Most of us wish we could think faster and say the right word at the right time.

I wonder how many of us read this story and thought, “maybe it is best not to get lost in the first place.” I think that was the ultimate point.