In one of my cats first litter of kittens was a little one I named “Pippin” after a mischievous hobbit in “the Lord of the Rings.” He earned this name because just like the character in the book, he was always getting himself into trouble.
The amazing thing about Pippin is he had no fear….
even when he should have!!!
I did take this picture but to my knowledge Vincy my dog never did anything to harm any of the kittens. That didn’t change the fact that Pippin shouldn’t have been that close to a dog who could have easily eaten him! But he didn’t fear Vincy at all, in fact he would parade himself past the dog all the time without fear!!!
Pippin reminds me that sometimes fear can be a good thing.
Some Christians like Pippin will get as close as they can to something that is dangerous with no fear at all. In this case it would be sin, worldly influences, or foolish decision making.
Pippin may have played with these dangerous situations because he knew I would be there to save him, and Christians in the same way sometimes get too close to a dangerous thing because God will protect them.
But eventually what we get too close to will harm us.
I’ll never know what happened to Pippin in the end because I gave him to another family. But I’m thankful for the visual reminder of my stubborn heart that sometimes gets as close to a dangerous situation as possible instead of avoiding it.
Johnhwilburn.org 