Taunting Kepler

Squirrels and chipmunks are a common sight in our backyard. Gray squirrels, reddish brown squirrels, and black squirrels cavort in our yard along with darting chipmunks.

The backyard is also a romping ground for our 15-month-old Jack Russell terrier Kepler. We named our puppy for the Biblical creationist, mathematician, and astronomer Johann Kepler (1571-1630) who discovered the three Laws of Planetary Motion.

Sometimes this multi-use backyard is not serenely peaceful. The rodents love to taunt Kepler, staying just out of his reach in a tree or on the fence.

Kepler will intently watch these little playfellows through our sliding glass door. When released through the door, he will bolt straight out toward one. The rodents will perch just out of reach and chatter at him.

But one day last week a male chipmunk miscalculated. Kepler caught him!

Maybe the watching squirrels will learn a lesson and stop taunting him, but I doubt it!

Sadly, I did not get to watch Kepler demonstrate his God-given expertise. By the time we went out, it was all over. It surely happened as soon as Kepler went out the door after his morning meal.

The chipmunk was still quivering, so we knew Kepler had just caught it. We decided to let him eat it (to save a bit on dog food), but he was no longer hungry. He only carried it around the yard, dropping and picking it back up multiple times and pushing it around with his nose. Finally he buried it under grass clippings, leaves, and sticks.

Kepler noses his dead chipmunk

We disposed of it. Later he searched and searched but couldn’t locate it. He’ll just have to catch himself another one.

Some may feel squeamish about what Kepler did, but Jack Russell terriers were bred to do exactly what Kepler did — catch and kill small game.

Kepler’s chipmunk kill is a result of Adam’s sin. Animals were not originally created to kill each other, but Yahweh cursed all of creation as a result of Adam’s sin in the Garden of Eden.
For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.
(Romans 8:20-22)

Eventually at the restoration of creation to its original state, the wolf will live and graze with the lamb without killing and eating it…and Kepler will play nicely with chipmunks and squirrels.
And the wolf will dwell with the lamb,
And the leopard will lie down with the young goat,
And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together;
And a little boy will lead them.
Also the cow and the bear will graze,
Their young will lie down together,
And the lion will eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra,
And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den.
They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain,
For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
As the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:6-9)

“For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth;
And the former things will not be remembered or come to mind.
But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create;
For behold, I create Jerusalem for rejoicing
And her people for gladness.
I will also rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in My people;
And there will no longer be heard in her
The voice of weeping and the sound of crying.
No longer will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days,
Or an old man who does not live out his days;
For the youth will die at the age of one hundred
And the one who does not reach the age of one hundred
Will be thought accursed.
They will build houses and inhabit them;
They will also plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
They will not build and another inhabit,
They will not plant and another eat;
For as the lifetime of a tree, so will be the days of My people,
And My chosen ones will wear out the work of their hands.
They will not labor in vain,
Or bear children for calamity;
For they are the offspring of those blessed by the Lord,
And their descendants with them.
It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb will graze together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will do no evil or harm in all My holy mountain,” says the Lord. (Isaiah 65:17-25)

Who taught Kepler how to catch chipmunks and squirrels? I have never taught or trained Kepler on how to catch them. The Creator built this capability into Kepler’s DNA. Imagine the complexity of that coding job! No human has any idea how to write that code in the DNA. This is another way in which little Kepler glorifies his Creator — by doing very well what he was well-designed to do.

Questions to Ponder

1. Every creature glorifies its Creator. How does your favorite animal glorify the Creator?
2. Have you felt the exhilaration of watching someone do just what they were created to do? Describe the occasion.

Share your thoughts on these questions in the comments below. It could encourage or help another reader.

Soli Deo Gloria.

This is the seventh article in a series of blog posts on our Jack Russell terrier Kepler.
Read the prequels:
1. Why I Named Our Puppy “Kepler”
2. Kepler’s Kind
3. Kepler’s Lopsided Trade
4. Kepler’s Amazing Nose
5. Kepler’s Business Card
6. Kepler & the Psycho Squirrel (with video)

Read the sequels:
8. Adam and Puppies
9. Who Taught Kepler?

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©William T. Pelletier, Ph.D.
“contending earnestly for the faith”
“destroying speculations against the knowledge of God”
(Jude 1:3; 2 Cor 10:4)
Wednesday June 24, 2015 A.D.

But now ask the beasts, and let them teach you;
And the birds of the heavens, and let them tell you.
Or speak to the earth, and let it teach you;
And let the fish of the sea declare to you.
Who among all these does not know
That the hand of the LORD has done this,
In whose hand is the life of every living thing,
And the breath of all mankind? (Job 12:7-10)