My 6 year old red heeler, a type of Australian cattle dog, has figured out that I have some sort of a problem, and she has become my “protector.” When our neighbor to the west came down a few weeks ago with his brush-hog to mow the majority of our 5 acres, I was out walking. Magdi usually walks the first lap of six on my 1/2 mile plus loop, scares up all the critters—especially the snakes—then sits in the shade, watching, while I finish. That day, she stayed with me for the entire walk, and any time I got within 100 feet of the tractor, she went after that mower with a vengeance. We were afraid she would get hurt, so I altered my walk to stay on one side of the property and the neighbor worked the other half until I finished. Then my canine bodyguard retreated under the porch till the next time I came outside.
One Saturday, I was walking while Keith used the little rider on the acre we keep mown around the house. Every time our paths started to intersect, she would charge across the field from wherever she happened to be, cut between us, and bark and nip at his wheels, even though she is scared to death of the mower, and runs from it otherwise. (I wonder if she thinks it has already eaten Keith.)
Today, another neighbor was using his brush-hog on his side of the south fence, and we passed one another three or four times along the fence while I walked. Magdi headed for him every time we got close and barked and jumped at the fence until I was safely by. Then she followed after me, and stayed at my heels until the next lap brought us back to the fence, where she repeated her performance. Once he lifted the front bucket right at her, and she slowly rose on her hind legs, barking even louder, till he put it back down. The way my forty pound red-headed protector takes such good care of me warms my heart, especially since she is so afraid herself of those vicious green monsters that inhabit our fields and woods! I don’t know how she knows that I am not quite up to par, but she is making it her business to watch out for me.
As heartwarming as all that may be, it is nothing compared to the assurance I have that my Heavenly Father looks out for me. The evidence I have in the past few years alone is amazing, but all I have to do is open His Word to see the most astonishing care of all—He gave His Son for my soul.
For I am persuaded that neither death, not life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom 8:38, 39.
Dene Ward