Dog Bites and Doing the Right Thing!

If you have ever been bitten by a dog, you are not alone! (I've been bitten a couple of times). The US Postal Service recently released statistics on letter carriers and dog bites for 2006. In that particular year, 3,184 mail carriers were bitten by dogs. The top five most dangerous cities for mail personnel were (in order of the # of dog bites): Santa Anna, 96 bites; Houston, 94; Sacramento, 82; Los Angeles, 77 and South Florida, 71. Believe it or not the safest place to deliver mail? The New York City metro area which had no reports of a mail carrier being bitten by a dog!

With all the experience the postal service has had across the years with dogs desiring to do a taste test on their workers, the service offers the following dog bite advice:

·Don't run past a dog. The dog's natural instinct is to chase and catch prey. (So unless you are with someone much slower than you - don't try to run!)

·If a dog threatens you, don't scream. Avoid eye contact. Try to remain motionless until the dog leaves, then back away slowly until the dog is out of sight (and PLEASE don't trip as you are walking backwards!).

·If you believe a dog is about to attack you, try to place something between yourself and the dog (and I don't think the postal service has another person in mind!).


All of these tips seem to make a lot of sense from what I know about dogs. Yet, when faced with a growling, baring-its-teeth dog, many of us probably do what comes instinctivley to us and that is run, baby, run! This teaches us that sometimes what might feel is the right thing to do is not. In fact it may be the very worst thing we could do! And so it is in our faith journey. We cannot afford to simply make decisions and choices based on what we "feel" is right. Our sinful nature and our godless culture can impact us in ways that make us feel something is right for us when God says it is terribly wrong. What we all need to do is to spend time in God's Word so we can know His plan for our lives. Then and only then will we be able to stay on the path and avoid the painful experience of being bitten by sin!

Thanks for listening,

pj