Have you ever been distracted during a meeting? My wife and I attend Sunday school every Sunday morning via Zoom. We sit at our dining room table and listen to the lesson which is currently focusing on the book of Ephesians. We were discussing how God chose us before the world began.

Isn’t that amazing? He chose us. He chose me!

We were deep into the lesson when something moving outside caught our attention. It was a pig.

Normally I can dismiss or ignore distractions, but it’s hard to ignore a pig outside the window. Especially when it walks up to the front door and sets off the doorbell.

But we tried. And we failed.

After checking out the disturbance we returned to Zoom and continued on with being chosen.

When the lesson was over the pig was still there. I told Tina I believed it had chosen her. She felt otherwise.

Then it hit me. There had been a family at the entrance of our neighborhood that once had a pet pig. Perhaps it was theirs and it had wondered away from home. Thus the pig and I began a journey to find its home.

Armed with a box of Spanky’s old doggie treats we began our half mile walk to find Alice’s home. I say Alice because it was very obvious that the pig was female. Otherwise I would have called it Arnold after the pig on Green Acres.

Not to brag, but I think she was a bit smitten with me. I guess I still have what it takes to attack a lady pig.

Then again, she may not have been picky. Or it may have been the doggie treats. Or else she was a street walker. Nevertheless, she followed me down the street.

It never crossed my mind we would attract so much attention. Just a normal Sunday morning. An old man and a pig sauntering along the street together.

Traffic through the neighborhood can be brisk at times, but not this morning. Vehicles slowed to take a peek at Alice and me slowly making our way north on Harting Ridge Road. - One doggie treat at a time.

A car slowed. “Hey! Is that your pig?”

“Pig?”

I believe Alice was insulted. She looked away disgustingly.

Like the Road to Emmaus, we were on a spiritual journey. We may not have encountered Jesus, but we met a few interesting people along the way.

Alice and I were weeee, weeee, weeeing all the way home. Or so I was hoping.

An old Merle Haggard song kept running through my head. “Alice, please believe me. I can’t go on and on, holding things together with you gone.”

I was down to a half a box of treats when we arrived at what I had hoped was Alice’s home. I knocked on the door, a lady appeared, and Alice grunted with delight.

“Hello. I’m your neighbor from up the street. Are you missing your pig?”

“pig? No. I haven’t had a pig in a long time. That’s not my pig.”

Alice was rubbing up against her. She was choosing her.

“Well, would you like to own a pig?”

“No. The last one I had was mean. I had to get rid of it. I don’t want another pig.”

I apologized for disturbing her and said we’d be on our way, but the pig wasn’t leaving. Either Alice had chosen a new owner or she was too full of doggie treats to move on more step.

She wasn’t budging.

Thankfully the lady said to just leave her. She said she’d take care of her until she could find her rightful home.

I thanked the Lord for that small miracle and left before she could change her mind.

It’s just another normal day in my life on the ridge.

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Rick Algood
March 28, 2021