Evidence

About a month after I moved into my house, I decided that I needed a roommate. One who would defend my house from intruders, greet me cheerfully when I came home from work, and not give me any attitude or eat my food out of the refrigerator. So off to the humane society I went to adopt Bailey, and she's been my roommate for the past 7 years.

Bailey is a shepherd/terrier/who knows what else mix. It's amazing how similar our personalities are--I think God knew what He was doing when He brought us together. We both can be very social, amiable creatures, but sometimes we both just want to be left alone. Our barks are most definitely worse than our bite.

I love my dog dearly, but there is one trait in particular that, if I had the choice, I would change: She sheds like crazy. I could probably make four or five other dogs out of the fur that she leaves behind on an annual basis.

No matter how thoroughly I use the lint roller on my clothes, inevitably I find at least one stray dog hair attached to me at some point in the day. I vacuum pretty frequently, but the Hoover is no match for my little shedding machine.

Of course, she can't help it, God made her that way. Everywhere I go, there is a little reminder of Bailey with me. It doesn't usually faze me; I've come to accept that putting up with dog hair is one of the hazards of being a dog owner. When people notice dog hair stuck to my clothes, they know that I either own or have been around a dog. That's evidence that a dog is in my life.

I was wondering the other day if evidence of God at work in my life is just as noticeable. Can people tell just by observing me that I've got the Holy Spirit "stuck" to me? Certainly I take Him with me everywhere I go--but do people at work, or in the checkout line, or in traffic recognize that?

Just as you can walk into my house and, even if Bailey weren't there, you'd know I had a dog there by seeing some stray dog hair or her dog dishes or the milkbone jar, I want people to be able to walk into my home and know instantly that God resides there, even if they didn't see a Bible on a shelf or heard Christian radio playing. I want the evidence of God at work in my life to be unmistakable.