My neighbours have a Jack Russell Terrier. He's very young - less than a year old.

I have a cat. She's very old, and mellow.

Can you tell where this combination is going? Just now I met my neighbour in the hallway, preparing to take her very hyper dog for a walk, and thought to myself, "Wouldn't it be funny to let Apollo meet the kitty one day, just for kicks?" Now, before you report me to the SPCA for excessive cruelty to animals, rest assured that my cat has met dogs before and been fairly indifferent. But since Apollo is so....animated....and Tabitha is so....NOT, it sounded like an interesting experiment.

Well, we decided to let today be the day. We took the dog inside my place and carefully let him meet the cat (hanging on to his leash for dear life so that he didn't actually eat the cat). Once the cat figured out what was going on (we did wake her up, after all, she was a little groggy), she immediately got up and went straight up to Apollo and sniffed him and meowed at him in a fairly friendly way. No hissing, no fear, no nothing!! What a surprise!! I expected with a dog this hyper and excited that she would at least keep her distance while trying to figure out what was going on. Nope. She truly impressed me. And Apollo was overjoyed. (Though to be frank, it was hard to tell by any difference in his behaviour. His mode of expression is fairly monothematic.)

It reminded me though, when I sat down for a second and thought about it, that these surprises can hold true for the model of discipleship as well. Many times I am somewhat concerned about releasing someone under my 'care' to be mobilized in ministry. Are they ready? Are they spiritually mature enough? What if they mess up and hurt people? What if they get hurt? But I think that many people will surprise us when they are given an opportunity to be in ministry, and the truth is that we can accomplish anything through the power of Christ that is within us. Hey, look at the disciples. For three years, they barely understood anything Jesus was telling them, but when the power of the Spirit fell upon them, there was no stopping them. For that matter, look at me! I am broken and sinful by nature and God still has the ability to use me as a weapon in his armory even when I have been - and still sometimes am - less than whole.

Surprising. But also very cool.

I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13)