Dog Walk Talk: Living your Eulogy
“What is better, a life of same old-same old, or a life of being prepared and knowing you are ready when your time comes? ”
I love books.
In my print and electronic collection, I have over 5,000 volumes. I appreciate every book I have read differently. Some books because of their intellectual ascendancy and others for their captivating and compelling storyline. But I love all books, regardless of an author’s acumen, knowledge, or creativity, as they are a clear window exposing a created creature’s soul.
It is week 32 of 52 in the Tim Challies 2020 reading challenge, and this week I chose Joe Miller’s book Dog Walk Talk: While I’m Walking God is Talking.
If you Google “Joe Miller” you will read about a budding Sports commentator, an American attorney, an Alaskan war veteran Politian, and Joe of Joe’ restaurant in Venice. None of these Joes is Joe Miller, author of Dog Walk Talk.
It is unlikely that you know Joe. He is not famous. His book isn’t on the New York Times bestseller’s list. Joe isn’t doing network interviews, setting up massive conference speaking engagements, or leading a rapidly expanding non-profit. So you might be wondering, who is Joe Miller.
Joe Miller is a committed follower of Jesus Christ.
Joe and I met through a Facebook group for Christian authors. It has been my delight to talk with Joe and read his book of life lessons. In his own words, Dog Walk Talk “is a collection of thought-provoking, biblically-thought-through anecdotes which focus on some of the issues, thoughts, actions, and dilemmas we all face as we hike our spiritual journey, whether we are just curious about this God thing, somewhat participating in it, or fully enmeshed in our walk. We are on that hike to help us to draw closer to God and be better people as a result” (p. 9).
People have different ways they focus, listen, and pray to God. People go to their favorite chair, couch, room, parks, fire pits, rivers, lakes, or other places to be alone with God and their thoughts. Joe goes on walks with his dog.
The older I get the more convinced I am that I need older, wiser, godly men in my life. Dog Walk Talk is one of those voices. Joe has been through life, made some mistakes, ran down some wrong winding paths, and is overwhelmed by God’s grace in saving him through his Son, Jesus Christ.
The following are some highlights I took from the lessons God has taught Joe throughout his hike thus far in life.
Disappointment Defeated by God’s Grace
“If husband and wife mutually believe that, it’s the basis for being blessed with a great marriage—something to which we can all aspire.” (p. 27)
The context of the above quote is a mutual belief that God will always see us through troubling times. When a couple is Christ-centered in their marriage, they can withstand any storm as their hope is set upon the promises of God rather than this world.
However, Joe speaks from a unique position. He is not married to a Christian. He came to faith later in life and his wife has still not accepted Jesus as her Lord and savior. In a transparent passage, Joe states honestly, “As time accrued and older age set in, I found myself starting to dwell on those realities and found myself looking at, and seizing upon, more of the negatives than the positives about the marriage” (p. 28).
Unmet expectations may be the single biggest cause of disappointment in marriage and relationships. If unchecked, a negative spiral can emerge where your mind festers on all the things you don’t have that you think you deserve.
“Until the time comes in our lives when we face our self-inflicted walls and break out of the self-imposed prison, we will never fully appreciate full freedom, a freedom that comes from transparency, from meaningful relationships with others, and from an abiding relationship with Christ. We break free of our prison by casting those walls into the river of Grace, which has been given to us through Christ’s death on the cross. At that point, we are no longer institutionalized, and we are free to create our new normal—in Him” (p. 33).
Little do we realize in our moment of self-pity that we are imprisoning ourselves. Until we are transparent with our own sin, need for Christ’s saving work, and surrender to Him as Lord and Savior, we will live in a perpetual cycle of disappointment and craving something more.
The Deception of Comfort
“I am convinced at this stage of my life that God is not concerned with, nor does He appreciate, my idea of a comfort level. I am quite sure that He’s most concerned about the person I can be if I just trust Him and allow Him to do His work in and through me. That can only be accomplished when I stop saying or thinking “I can’t” and start focusing on how I can do all things through Him” (p. 50).
We naturally crave the easy and comfortable way of doing things. But comfort kills.
Comfort will literally kill us. When we seek cushioned comfort and mindless entertainment the hourglass of life will dissipate before our glazed over thoughtlessly amused eyes.
Jesus said that no one should follow him who is not prepared to carry their own cross. The call to be a disciple of Jesus means we must be ready to embrace the uncomfortable.
There is a saying in the military, “get comfortable being uncomfortable.” This is a motto every Christian should embrace. We need to redirect our cultural understanding of comfort to the uncomfortable but totally fulfilling desires God has for our lives.
Live your Eulogy
“Do you play the odds? Do you really think you have plenty of time to take care of business before you die? What is better, a life of same old-same old, or a life of being prepared and knowing you are ready when your time comes? Again, do you play the odds? The stakes, His Kingdom, are far too valuable to foolishly bet on” (p. 57).
Most of us don’t want to think about death. But Joe gently helps us put our lives into the context of death.
As I was reading his several anecdotes on death, I was struck by the idea of living your eulogy.
Joe argues that we should “do it day by day, every day. Do not wait for when you are in that box and someone else shares how they think your eulogy should read. You live it now” (p. 140).
What do you want to be said of you on the day you die, and you go to meet God? What do you want to be said here on earth?
Do the things that you want to be said match the life you are living now?
I want people to say, “he lived for and loved like Jesus.”
I want God to say, “well done good and faithful servant.”
I want my wife to say, “he loved me as Christ loved the church”.
I want God to say, “you were faithful to the end.”
I want my children to say, “He modeled the love of Christ to me.”
I want God to say, “all your sin has been covered by the blood of my Son, you are forgiven, and your name is written here in the book of life.”
Joe has helped me think, are the actions, pursuits, worries, struggles, words, motivations, and all my striving matching what I hope is said then?
Live your eulogy.
_______________________
Dog Walk Talk is short 3-5 minute chapters that will conversationally engage you to think in everyday practical terms about your relationship and walk with Jesus Christ!
PREVIOUS Reviews
John Owen came from Welsh descent, was educated at Queens College, and became a renowned Puritan theologian, Oxford professor, and passionate pastor who lived from 1616 to 1683. In 1647, he wrote the exhaustive treatise The Death of Death defending Limited or Definite Atonement against the Arminian view of Universal Atonement or Unlimited Atonement.