Fr. Jake encourages us to listen, offering a wonderful faith story.
Learning to see how God is constantly redeeming this world requires a little practice. It requires us to set aside our view of our lives as a series of good times and bad times, with shades of both in between. Instead, we seek out the movement of God. And the movement of God is always from glory to glory. Our task is to set aside our perceptions of what is going on, and then move with God, from faith, to faith, and so become partners in God’s work of redemption.
If we are to be evangelists, it is important that we learn to look out at the world from the perspective of redemption. What is God doing in this situation? How will this be redeemed? It is from this perspective that we can let go of our mission, and begin to participate in God’s mission.
I guess what really turned me off was that the dogs involved weren’t actually acting like dogs. There was no mischief or nipping at the judges’ heels or inappropriate scratching. They were all too perfect: perfectly behaved, perfectly coiffed, perfectly cute. Like Stepford dogs.
It’s the same reason I cringe whenever I hear about those JonBenet Ramsay-style kiddie pageants. There are no tantrums or whining or begging for chicken nuggets. Sure, the stage mothers are full intrigue and back-stabbing. But the kids involved don’t actually act like kids. Read the comments.
The Divine Latitude 
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