It was hard to distinguish Brownie from the mud puddle he was laying in. Brownie loved mud. He loved to play in it and roll in it. He even loved to sleep in it. If he could, Brownie would spend all day long in the mud!There was one problem with Brownie's love for mud. His master loved white carpeting. Yeah, that was a problem. Mud-encrusted dogs don't go together with white carpeting. But the things was that Brownie's master loved Brownie too.
When Brownie came home at night after a long day of playing in the mud, his master would scold him and tell him what a bad dog Brownie was. Brownie always hung his head in shame. But the very next day Brownie was right back in the mud where he loved to be.
One day some fancy people can to town. They were from the big city. They wore big city clothes and drove big city cars. They were looking for dogs. Dogs they could use to sell their big city dog food. So they had a contest to see who was the best dog in town. The prize was being in a dog food commercial on television and a lifetime supply of dog food!
Everyone in town began cleaning up their dogs. They gave them shampoos, haircuts, they even had their toenails trimmed and painted. That is, everyone except Brownie's master.
The day of the big dog show came and all the dogs were there with their owners. But not Brownie. Brownie was across the river having fun in the dirt. Soon it began to rain however and before you know it, everything, especially Brownie, was a muddy mess.
Suddenly Brownie raised his head high and looked back into town. Something didn't feel right. His master wasn't calling but Brownie felt like his master wanted him to come home.
Brownie jumped into the river and began to swim across it. He got out on the other side, shook himself off, and began to run. He ran through a corn field and then a wheat field, finally arriving at home. But no one was there. So Brownie ran into town looking for his master.
Everyone seemed to be at the school and that's exactly where Brownie knew he'd find his master. He ran in through the open doors and looked at the crowd of people gathered there. Then Brownie saw his master, hunched over, across the floor with some people standing around him, so Brownie took off towards him.
The people were helping his master into an ambulance now and Brownie arrived just as they were shutting the door.
Later, at the hospital, as Brownie slept at the foot of his master's bed, the fancy, big town people came in to visit. They told Brownie's master they had seen his dog run across the gym floor and they knew that Brownie was the dog they wanted in their commercial.
"His hair is just glowing and his energy level is exceptional. We have never seen a dog so filled with joy and with such a determined sense of purpose about him."
You see, Brownie is usually a muddy mess. He loves the mud. But when he ran to his master . . . when he ran through the river, he was washed clean. The mud had actually given Brownie's hair a healthy glow. And when Brownie ran through the fields his hair was dried and groomed without any help from the big city people.
Brownie's master decided that the big city wasn't for them. They had always managed to have all the dog food they needed anyway. So the big city people left town. And Brownie? He gave up rolling in the mud.
Why? Why would Brownie give up something he loved to do? Because there was something more important that Brownie WANTED to do now. And as Brownie's master drifted off to sleep, so did Brownie, at the foot of his master's bed. But he kept one eye focused on his master, whom he loved dearly, just in case his master needed him.
We are a lot like Brownie. We are natural-born sinners, loving he mud we tend to play in. The world is filled with people trying to make more and more money, often at the expense of others. But those who follow Christ shun the world and it's ways. We shake off the sin and cleanse ourselves with Living Water. We seek OUR Master and we listen to and follow His ways, not our own. Our Master loves us. Let us be content in serving Him, right where He wants us. Right by His side.
"37 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. 38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” - John 7:37-38
"13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” - John 4:13-14
Dogs Playing In Mud
Washed By The Water - Needtobreathe
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