Win One Lose One and a Dog

It’s early in the morning in a suburb of Dallas and I am on my first appointment for the day. The insurance company for my customer vehemently denies paying for a new roof thus rendering my contract with the insured null and void. “Oh shucks!” No new roof here.

Heading towards my car, I ask myself, why would God bring me all the way to Cedar Hill wasting resources for a sale that has gone bad.

From a least a dozen houses away a piddly little squirt of a dog comes trampling down the street as if he is late for an appointment. As his little feet scurry back and forth, his paws bounce off the sidewalk with each step in a perfect cadence.

Where is this scrappy dog heading? He must be lost. I figure I will return him to his owner. I approach this tail wagging undernourished creature to find no tags on him and it doesn’t take long to figure out this little guy is a victim of neglect. His ribs are showing. I pet him and he becomes so passive and docile, he wanted the attention more than the dry bone that fell from the only trash can on the street that was his morning’s score.

I scoop him up and plan to knock on some doors with this puppy dog in my arms and see if I can locate the owner and who knows, while I am at their doorstep, maybe they will need a new roof and some contracting work.

Walking up the driveway of the first house, I feel like Baretta in some strange way with his parrot. I am quickly getting attached to this raggity, poor little guy inside a dog’s body. He is shell shocked and offers not even a modest wimper as he displays no personality whatsoever. He has a helpless look on his face. I think he is thinking ok Mister, “Now what?”

The homeowner at the first house I stopped by said no it is not my dog and yes I need a roof. He gives scrappy dog a makeshift bowl of water and he gives me a signed contract for his roof to be replaced. The insurance company recently approved to buy him a new roof so we are good to go. Yay!

Praise the good Lord, I lose a sale and within half an hour gain a new one.

I also have a new best friend for now and I think we will work again together tomorrow. One knock and a sale, I am liking those stats.

So, what started off as unproductive morning, God quickly showed Himself to me as He often does. I received a quick answer to my prayer as to whether or not I am doing the right thing by taking this dog home. I felt a certain peace about it and the Lord confirmed it within a few minutes by showing me a particular and meaningful car (significance of the car and its license plate is undisclosed at this time) that had a dog carrier/cage in the front seat. As scrappy and I pull away, this is the first car we see. It was a clear message.

God’s grace is so good. He gives me a new customer with limited effort and a helper for my job that does not require a paycheck.

Or as my friend Lizanne endearingly asks, did I find the dog or did the dog find me?

Guess who is going to be at the dog park this weekend? I’ll be the guy nursing this underdog back to health, no, not me. Scrappy.