The Barking Dogs

Randy, I know, I’m late. But here are the iron-on decals for our T-shirts. You wouldn’t believe what I went through this evening. I had to go to 3 copy shops in Boston but finally got them all made.

Steve, I feel like throwing these in the trash. Although what you accomplished was good, by missing our group Bible Study, you sacrificed the best for the good.

That memory pulled me up short when I found a fuzzy photo in a stack I was sorting. In it, 5 young men in “Barking Dog” yellow T-shirts are lip-synching to a song. The photo was taken near the end of a Navigator Summer Training Program in 1980.

Here is a bit of the context. About 100 college students from New England were attending this two month program. Each team had to come up with a name and ours was “The Barking Dogs.” Another student then sketched a caricature of 5 barking hounds as our trademark. Someone had heard that some copy shops could reproduce the sketch as iron-on decals. Since I had to take the train into center city Boston, finding a copy shop to do this became my mission. It couldn’t take more than 20 minutes and wouldn’t interfere with dinner or the evening programs.

But not that evening. The closest copy shop to the train station was only able to make 3 decals before their machine malfunctioned. Determined not to fail, I hoofed around to other copy shops in downtown Boston. 20 minutes morphed into 90. Tired and already having missed dinner back in Newtown, I figured I’d still make it in time for our Bible Study. But the train I needed left 4 minutes before I got there! And that’s when I learned that that train was the last train on the rush-hour schedule. The next one didn’t come for another hour! So, I moped around the train tracks for that hour. Finally, hungry and tired, I trudged into our dorm around 9 that evening. Although aggravated that it had taken so long, I had accomplished my mission. I handed Randy the decals for our team shirts.

But Randy’s response stumped me. How could he have interpreted the challenges I had overcome as nothing more than trash? Even in hindsight, I think his response was harsh. But eventually I grasped his point of “sacrificing the best for the good”. Even though I had completed my mission, I had sacrificed the more valuable fellowship time for, well, a story of a copy shop relay for some iron-on decals.

That lesson has influenced many decisions. For instance:

In 1982, a prerequisite for my first engineering job was to be close to a church with a large student ministry where I could learn how to mentor high schoolers. The job in King of Prussia that I accepted was good but the opportunity to learn to mentor others was the deciding factor. This opportunity stretched my faith and my ability to love and mentor others.

In 1983, with a growing passion for missions, I decided to resign my day job in order to lead a 7-week summer missions trip to British Columbia. On my return, I was unable to find steady employment for two years. But it was the right decision. During those years, I experienced Father’s provision while continuing to mentor others.

In 1985, one of the student’s father connected me to a job where I had contractors working for me all over a 350 acre facility. I gained 10 years of experience in 3 years at that dream job.

Also in 1985, I had the opportunity to launch a youth ministry at the Valley Forge Military Academy and Jr. College, a local private school. Those 9 months of the school year were fast-paced and at the end of each year, I was exhausted. But those 6 years rewarded me with hundreds of friendships, many who went on to serve in our military.

Then, in 1988, I left that dream job to start seminary with the aim of Air Force Chaplaincy. During graduate school, I continued nurture friends in their relationships with others and with God. Yes, it was a sacrifice of a lot of good things, but in exchange for relationships that endure.

As I look back over the decades, that copy shop relay to turn a sketch into Barking Dog T-shirt decals continues to impact my life. Like many, I often carelessly sacrifice relationships with others for temporary pleasure or success. Just before Christmas I was talking with several inmates who are separated from those they love because of being in jail. One murmured, “I wonder if they would still be with me if I had not chosen something else over them?” These inmates agreed that in hindsight, they had sacrificed relationships for things that usually were only good.

Yet I fear that in sacrificing the good for better, I perhaps have still sacrificed the best for what is just better. I’m talking about my relationship with my Creator and Father.

But what does a thriving relationship with God look like? Is it David’s desire written in Psalm 27:4? "One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.” To me, that sounds boring, like living in a monastery while my neighbors are hungry. But has loving others taken away from my personal relationship with Father and Jesus and the Spirit? Probably.

So where is the balance between relationships with people and my relationship with God? Jesus seemed so adept at achieving that balance. He served and taught thousands but often slipped away to be with Father. What is it about being in His company that energizes me to refract His love to others? I use the term refract because my perspective is that as prisms, we refract the invisible light of God into visible colors to dance on those around us as we interact and hopefully bless them. And this refraction integrates the imperfections found in each human prism.

So does my Barking Dog story resonate with you? In what ways and decisions might you have sacrificed the best for good?

And what advice can you give me about how to balance my personal relationship with God with other pursuits?