When a client of mine found out we were building our house "in the middle of nowhere" they said we needed a dog for protection. Protection from what I am not sure. We were not crossing the prairie in a cover wagon, just moving about a half hour from the big city. We didn't get "Ol Yeller", we brought home an English Setter puppy named Buck. My daughter Tori was 7 at the time and she loved playing dress up with Buck. She quickly discovered that, if she wanted him to stay with her, he needed to be on a leash. One day while sitting on her beloved green stool, which she took everywhere, she wanted something from her room, knowing Buck would leave, she tied him to the stool and walked away. I am upstairs when I hear a scream, you know the kind that a 7 year old girl makes when her world is falling apart, and this thumping noise I cannot figure out. As I am running down the stairs, I discover the other noise. Poor Buck, still tied to the stool, is running for his life from the stool that is trying to eat him.  Tori is screaming as Buck keeps running by her with the stool bouncing off the walls and cabinets. Kegan, the older brother, is laughing so hard he is crying. I am trying to get ahold of the poor dog  as he is running circles around the house. With the stool, in pieces throughout the house, no longer trying to kill him, Buck is finally caught. I release him from his nightmare. Tori is now crying over her stool that is absolutely destroyed. Kegan is still laughing. That's when I notice the walls. We have only been in the house a few months. On our brand new, freshly painted walls and cabinets, there are green and brown streaks everywhere. Yes, the stool was green and we have all heard about having the _____ scared out of us.

It started off so innocent. Tori just wanted Buck to stay by her. She tied him to something that he never should have been tied to. We have all, at some point in our lives, tied ourselves to something or someone we had no business being tied to and paid the consequences for it. That relationship that everyone warned us about, buying that thing we really couldn't afford or it's just one time and I can handle it. Now you are looking at your life that resembles what was left of the green stool.  I had to remove the stool he was tied to. It's what we have to do.  Remove the "green stool" from our lives. 

The dog, with the stool gone, was fine and still played dress up with Tori. The walls and cabinets were easy to fix, they got a fresh coat of paint. Our hearts however are not as easily mended. 

Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness Matt  6:33 "You cannot serve two masters" Matt 6:24  If it doesn't line up with the Word of God then it's a "green stool", cut it loose.