Dog Day Afternoon

They came out of nowhere and if they hadn't barked I would have been lunch! It was the classic good dog/bad dog set up. One was black and he was trying to circle around me while the mangy white one was on the frontal attack.

I was walking against traffic on route 380 east on our way to Greenville, Texas. It was a busy highway plus it's Christmas time and everyone was in a hurry to get somewhere or get back from somewhere. The dogs were both about the size of an Irish setter. I generally don't worry about dogs on a busy road. Dog owners normally keep their animals confined in yards or in the house. I don't think anyone owned these two.They were not well kept and they looked hungry! These were neighborhood renegades.

It's a good thing I travel with a staff...No, not a group of people, a big stick! I was taught to never use the staff in an aggressive manner but to raise it to make myself bigger than my attacker or to keep the animal at bay. This white dog was aggressive. I was walking backward down the highway, against traffic with a five foot stick between us. In the meantime, I tried to keep my eye on the black dog far to my right. Now my first line of defense against aggressive dogs is to get to the other side of the road and let the traffic be a natural line of defense. The speed of the cars and the sound of the engine generally discourages any canine pursuit. This day there was too much traffic and I was walking backward!

I've learned that dogs are territorial. They bark to protect their living area and once you have left their area, they return home hoping their master will reward them with a biscuit for staunchly defending the homeland. These two seem to think the world was theirs and I was intruding!

Then it occurred to me...call Jesus! So I stopped, looked my adversary in the eye and said in a loud voice "Stop! In the Name of Jesus!" He looked at me for a moment, blinked and continued to bark and move forward. I thought, "What happened? Did I say it the wrong way? That should have worked." In the next moment, a little red car...I don't know the make or model, whether the driver was male or female, young or old, black or white....a little red car darted in between me and the dog. It honked it's horn again and again and drove toward the dogs running them off. I waved "Thanks" and it sped away.

As I turned around to face the traffic, I asked God why the Name of Jesus hadn't stopped the dogs...I asked why my faith didn't work...doubts began to fill my mind and then God asked me a question.... "Nicholas, my son, Who do you think sent that car?"