“Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering.

Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.

And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.

And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body: and be ye thankful.” COLOSSIANS 3:12-15

Fun with Old English, it would be the coolest thing to just spend an entire day roaming around speaking Old English.

Can you imagine the fun of that, and Google Translate trying desperately to no avail to decipher what is being said. Better yet Old English Pirate, now that would be really great, as I am convinced this would be the mother tongue of my lineage. 

Basically, we are being told to put on, as in clothing, you can really think this comparable to the putting on of your Christian armor.

We are to literally be clothed in mercy, and not just simple mercy, but mercy that literally rises from deep inside, pouring from the innermost being, kindness, having a humble mind, not thinking we know it all or that we are the end all, be all.

Being meek and gentle, so to anger, even slower to retribution. And the doozy, longsuffering, which is to tolerate a satiation, or behavior far longer than one would normally bear.

Of course, forgiving one another, seeing differences as much as possible, and above all wearing the love of Christ, which is the seal of all good and blameless actions, which is the perfectness, doesn’t mean that we are perfect, only Christ is perfect, it means that we are blameless, trying to do the best that we can do that we can do, which is all that we can do and all that is required.

Having a thankful heart, allowing the peace of God to reign in us as we work and spiritually reside alongside our brothers and sisters in the body of Christ. 

You can see from such an exhortation, the seriousness of these qualities in believers and in my opinion, since we are told to put on these attributes, that we may sometimes have issue in doing just that.

We don’t always feel kind, we don’t always feel like being patient, sometimes enduring situations make us feel as though we are teetering the edge of sanity, which come complete with hopelessness and despair, we don’t always feel forgiving, and we can sometime struggle with having that peace. 

Now flip those thoughts to another’s point of view.

All time classic, beautiful verse that should always be front and center as we go about life:

“Be ye not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” HEBREWS 13:2

The kindness often shown by strangers can be as blessed as those showing kindness to angels, and the Lord and the angels themselves witnessing that kindness, which the impact of, we may never know and will surely not know the eternal ramification until we reach eternity.

For many reasons, I felt the timing wasn’t quite right to share this experience until now, about a year ago my husband and I had occasion to visit an emergency veterinarian clinic, our sweet Lady had a few weeks before started having seizures and we had been told that she was diabetic and she was prescribed antibiotics and daily insulin, so we were hopeful that her condition could be controlled.

She had been scheduled a follow-up visit for that particular morning, but instead of being her chipper self, she just fell over and went into what would be close to two-hours long consecutive seizures and of course, how these things always seem to go in life, it starts pouring the rain, just torrential rain, as if buckets were just being emptied, my husband doing his best to somehow cover her because we couldn’t move her while she was convulsing.

I called the clinic, because obviously she missed her appointment time and was informed that they would be closing but if we could get there by a certain time, they could get us in as an emergency.

This was on the weekend, and no clinics were open in our area, so this was the next state over and about an hour or so drive.

After she had calmed a little, he managed to get her in the car, and we missed the non-emergency window by actually just several minutes.

After taking her inside, we were told we would have to take her back outside, they were extremely busy and other people that talked to us said that normally it wasn’t that bad on the weekend but I thinking looking back the six-hour wait was preparation.

We had left in such a hurry that we took nothing, no wipes, no waters, nothing we were just desperately trying to get her help.

We had gotten her back in the front seat of the car and had the door open and I was sitting on the ground just outside the car, I was trying to comfort her and towel her off a little with the edge of the blanket she was on, she was soaking wet, and her state was just dazed, there was a man in a car beside of us waiting also and he said “Here you go” and handed me some wipes, and I thanked him, took some and handed the container back and he said, “No, just keep those I have plenty.”

As we began to talk back and forth, he asked about her condition and said he was there to get his little dogs’ shots and had never seen it so busy.

We eventually moved the car a little closer to the front of the building as spaces emptied, hoping to make it easier to get her in when it was time, she was a big dog, and her mobility was not good after that episode.

I opened the door again to give her some fresh air and sat beside her and a lady that was parked behind us came up to me and asked what was wrong with her and I told her and she said she had thought she may have been hit by a vehicle and was going offer us her spot when she was called because she was also there for routine vaccinations.

She asked did we have water, and I told her no, that we had left so fast, I didn’t even think about getting any, so she goes to her vehicle and brings back several bottles of water and a water bottle that had been cut on the side to make a drinking vessel, so told us that she was with an animal rescue and used those as a way of getting water to them fast.

Our Lady actually drank quite a bit and perked up enough to go for a little walk and use the bathroom, she herself, was just gone, her eyes just glazed and weak and wobbly, the lady that helped us walked back up again and brought us more waters, saying she thought that we might like one too and told me that she would be praying for her and for us and that she would request prayer for all of us  and her church and pray that she not suffer and talked with me a little about letting go for the greater good for lack of a better description of our conversation, on my behalf, but I understood what I was being told.

We were still outside the vehicle, by this time we were at probably around three-hours, and another lady walks up to us and asks us about her, she told me that her and her husband was there also for vaccinations for their little dogs, she told me that she had had a little dog that had seizures, that they never found the cause but that it just progressed to the point that he had to be euthanized and she told me how it was the hardest thing she had ever done but it was the only option left because he was suffering with seizure after seizure. She wished us well and told me that as hard as it is, it’s the right thing to do for them

By this point, I know in my heart where “we” are going with all this, “we” being me and the Lord in my heart.

As human, I just wanted to scream, cry, and beg that couldn’t she just be healed, just heal her for a little while, she had so much life left, I wasn’t ready to say Goodbye.

Just weeks before, she had seemed perfectly healthy, being her crazy self and playing, banging on the window for treats, why let it end like this, why not just let her go peacefully in her sleep, why did we have to make this horrible decision.

We all think those things sometimes for many different reasons, because we are human.

But the truth is, no illness, no death is ever going to be painless. But God never leaves us alone in that pain. He knows the beginning from the ending in all lives. 

Many have dealt with circumstances far worse than others and whether its loss of human or pet, there are greater degrees of agony, but we all face the same inevitable truth, suffering and death are of the human experience and it will continue to be until we enter the realm of eternity, which is our hope and our reward.

We were given many kind words that day by others and needless to say we were the last to be seen, they had to carry her to the examine and brought her back out, she was just gone, for lack of better words, the seizures had destroyed the dog she once was and the tormented whimpers she had uttered throughout the day left no doubt to the pain she endured.

The vet came out and showed us the results of her blood work, areas dipping almost unregistrable and others off the chart, he went on to tell us that he was going to waive his emergency fee and that she had lived much longer than other dogs of her size, I asked was there anything at all left that he could do and he said no, the intensity of the seizures were just too great and her bloodwork was so bad, her sugar level was so high that it went beyond the measurement, even with the shots she had that day, nothing was phased.

The old saying about what a day may bring, but the kindest of complete strangers, whom I will forever believe acted on a divine mandate.

Those who will forever be esteemed in my heart, I don’t even know their names, but God does, and I know that day, their kindness blessed us beyond words, and they truly entertained angels, as I know angels beheld their kindness.

In a world so full of hate, evil people screaming for the death of the Jews and praising those who commit such acts, Go fund me accounts set us for murders legal defense funds.

People so ready to kill, hit, and hate, kindness is one of greatest weapons.

Today, know that you may very well be that stranger, the one who God can use to so soften the blow that life is in the process of inflicting on another.

Never underestimate the power of that, a kind word, an encouragement, sharing the story of your own pain, a simple wet wipe, a bottle of water, things that seem so simple, but they aren’t.

Kindness carries a beautiful reward not only on this earth but also in eternity.

“And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto, he shall in no wise lose his reward.” Matthew 10:42

As we are taught that what we do for others is as if we are doing it for God himself, this verse also teaches that what we do simply as follows of Christ is blessed.

Thank you fro reading. Love & Peace. Φλογιζω NBJ 2025/ Rev. N. Brown Johnson