Tuesdays With Special Dog

Preface: In the Fall of 2016 I had the idea of having two Christian men meeting occasionally at a Starbucks in Manhattan....just getting together for conversation and fellowship.  There may be a half dozen so far....always under the title....Tuesdays With Special Dog....a take on the popular 1997 book....Tuesdays With Morrie.

S.D......."John....good to see you....we missed last month although I did have an interesting experience that I'll have to tell you about sometime." 

John......"Yeah....I missed our monthly get-together too."

S. D......."So how you been?   

John......"We're all fine. It's been busy....and frustrating.....increasingly so with all that's going on in America. I watched a clip this morning of Ted Cruz hammering Antony Blinken....from his high exalted platform in the Senate chamber....accusing Blinken of financing the Hamas Sukkot attack. Special Dog....I'm opposed to just about everything the Biden does as much as anyone but attacks like that are irresponsible....and just for show. They don't help anything."

S. D......"I know what you mean.... I saw the same clip. If Cruz had been a tenth as tough on Trump over the years we might not have the political maelstrom that we have today. When Trump says..."Bow".....they just say...."How low?" How's the family and everything else?"

John......"Well....the family is fine.....it's just church I guess. I don't know if it's from talking to you on a regular basis or what....but I'll walk into church just like I've done for the past forty years....same church....a lot of the same people....same small talk.....but I'm having trouble with it. Is it my lack of faith Special Dog.....or what?"

Special Dog looked at his watch....lifting his arm so that John would see...

S.D......"That's a record I'm sure....about two minutes before we get into the heavy stuff. Is it me John? Let me ask you this....it seems like you may be listening to sermons from preachers from way back when....Spurgeon and Lloyd-Jones maybe?"

John's eyebrows went up in surprise.

John......"How did you know that? 

S. D...."Elementary my dear Watson....been there done that so to speak."

John...."Well I'm putting my Bluetooth earpiece in just about every time I'm cutting the grass or doing any job around the house.....which is all the time by the way."

S.D.......John....those sermons will do that to you.....that's what happened to me. Both of our churches teach that a preached sermon is a means of grace....I believe that.....but logic tells me a few things....it's got to be a good sermon....a biblical sermon.....from the Holy Spirit....and if those sermons are not there....which they are hardly anywhere today....then there is little to no means of grace....and little discernment. But if we do hear a strong sermon on a weekly basis then we will be fed....and if we listen to two sermons like that a week we will have even more.....means of grace....and if we listen to five or ten or whatever sermons like this....then....well for one thing.....when you see all the laughter in church it tugs on your heart....the lack of knowledge we have on what is ahead for all of us."

John gave that....'you did it again' kind of look and asked....

John....."Well if that's the diagnosis....what's the prognosis?

Special Dog paused and looked off....out the window....past the crowds....off into nowhere. John was used to these pauses and didn't say anything....and then Special Dog focused again....

S. D....."John....I love these conversations of ours....iron sharpening iron. I need to hear what my brothers and sisters in Christ think. We need conversation today....but if you don't mind....I'll give you my thoughts on your question in....in a discourse more than a conversation?"

John...."Go ahead. I'm in a hearing mood today."

S. D......"OK....Do you need a refill on your coffee?"

John...."Nope.....I'm Good."

S. D......"John....everyone is so sure of this.....come November 5 an election will be held with Joe Biden as the Democrat nominee and Donald Trump as the Republican nominee. Democrats are having conniptions....fits of rage and hysteria.....over the possibility that Trump will get power....and rightfully so.....while we on our side are having those same conniptions that Biden and will retain power.....and this also rightfully so!

John modded his head

S. D....."We both know that God put Obama in power....just like He put Reagan in power twenty-eight years earlier....and He put Trump in power.....and He then put Biden in power.....and everything that happens in the future will be according to His perfect dictates....but we do not know what a day brings. James....in his letter was very explicit on this....

Special Dog quickly pulled up James 4:13-16 on Bible Hub on his phone....

"Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit'- yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that' As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil." Continuing....

"Let me ask you this John....who today in all the world....it's not even close.....who is it that boasts more than anyone else on the planet? Well you and I know the answer to that. It's Trump. There's not an issue that he would not turn on a dime for....Israel or abortion or anything....if turning benefited him. You would think that Cruz would know that. It would be unlikely that Joe Biden would complete a second term.....should God even give America more time. If the Democrats were smart they would send Kamala Harris on her way. Joe Manchin as a running mate would probably secure that second term....should we go on with this election. Tons of republicans and independents would vote for that option in the hope that someone sane eventually gets in that office. On the other hand there is not a week or a day or an hour that goes by without the possibility that Donald Trump will finally say or do something that even Lindsey Graham could not stomach....even though he got sick on Trump once before.

Special Dog took a sip of his latte and asked if he should go on....on which John nodded again.

"We do not know what will happen in the world over the summer. We do not know if Putin will attack Europe....or if Xi will attack Taiwan. We do not know the significance of a new president in Iran....or the possibility of a new Supreme Leader over there? We do not know if the earth has something catastrophic in store for us?  Even those party nominations are not yet certainties....but what do we know....or should know....is that this is the end of the end times....or the last of the last days. Israel and 1948 determined that every bit as much as the fish burping Jonah up on the beach determined that he would go up and preach to the Ninevites. We know that the Day of the Lord is coming quickly. We know that Israel will be the center of it. We know that Antichrist is coming but we do not know the specifics of what this Antichrist even is. We know that Christians will be hated by everyone....even by those in their own family.....that's how bad this will get! We know that most calling themselves Christian will be deceived. We know there will be a remnant. We don't know when....the day or the hour....but we have a good idea on the season....and wee know what we are to do....fill those oil lamps up and have oil in....."

Special Dog did not get to finish his sentence as there was some kind of disturbance up at the Starbucks counter. Two young people were berating what looked to be an older Jewish gentleman. The baristas had come around the counter and tried to calm these two young people down but they only became louder. John and Special Dog stood up just as one of the men the flipped his hand and knocked over the Jewish gentleman's drink. They shouted anti-Jewish epithets as they laughed their way out of the Starbucks. John went over to the gentleman and asked if he was OK....then told the barista to give the older man another drink and give him the tab. John and Special Dog sat back down....and just prayed to themselves for a minute or two before Special Dog said...

S. D....."This is getting too close to another Kristallnacht John."

John....."What's the word....Maranatha....Come Lord Jesus!"

With that both of them just sipped their drinks and gazed out on the hustle-bustle of the crowd....everyone going somewhere in a hurry....having no idea what surely lies ahead.