The Dog and the Daffodil
How Do Dogs Smell?
Hi Men:
I pray you were overwhelmed this week as you saw numerous times how you have been blessed by who you are “in” Christ. It’s just mind-blowing that Jesus now lives in us!
When I saw the cute photo above, it put a smile on my face. I thought to myself, time to include some cuteness in the Friday letter. Next week we’ll get back to one of those mind-numbing creations from God, like the merger of 2 black holes 🤠……. even though this dog nose info ain’t bad!
PHOTO ABOVE
We all know that a dog’s sense of smell is amazing. Our family has owned “many” dogs over the years – mainly large dogs (Great Dane/Malamute/Husky, etc) but now we own the smallest dog, weighing in at 4 lbs! Meet Punky snoozing on a cold morning [Check out the 48 sec video below of a Chihuahua who sensed a pending heart attack
But how many of these facts did you know? Did you know your dog can smell in stereo? By the way, there is so much information about a dog’s nose, it is overwhelming. Below are just a few amazing stats:
- 10× Larger Scent Area – The olfactory region in a dog’s nose is more than 10 times bigger than in humans.
- 100× More Receptors – Dogs have up to 100 times more scent receptors per cm² than we do.
- 40× Larger Smell Brain – The part of their brain dedicated to processing smell is 40 times larger than ours.
- 3D Smell – Dogs sniff through each nostril separately, helping them detect the direction of a scent—like smelling in stereo (I love that)
- Turbo Sniffing – Dogs can sniff up to 5 times per second, pulling in rapid samples of their environment.
- Recycling Air – Exhaled air exits under the nose, so fresh scent molecules aren’t lost—brilliant airflow design.
- Scent Storage – Dogs hold odor molecules in a special olfactory recess, giving their brain more time to analyze each smell.
- Emotional Detection – Dogs can smell chemical changes in your body, including fear, stress, or even sickness—sometimes before you know it.
- Heart Attack Heroics – Check out this 2-legged “Champ” YouTube (48 Sec)
IN YOUR OWN BACKYARD OR
ICE FISHING IN MINNESOTA
Skyler and Emily Rinehart with their two girls, in Montana
Men: I opened up my email one morning, and read the following:
—– —–
From: Skyler Rinehart
Sent: Tuesday, February 4, 2025 10:33 AM
To: Dan Russell
Subject: Steps to Peace
Afternoon Dan,
I met you last year at the Beulah Beach men’s conference. You gave me a booklet and I really needed it today. Rededicated my life to Christ Jesus today at 12:30.
———-Â
This began a series of correspondence and phone calls with a brother I met at the Ohio men’s retreat last year. After I shared a talk on evangelism, I gave him some tracts, including “Are You a Good Person?” and “Steps To Peace with God”
I soon found out that Skyler has a profound testimony that literally floored me. I asked him if he wouldn’t mind writing it out, which he did. Over the weekend, I might encourage all of you to set aside some time to read it. It will really bless you on how God will take a church kid and years later drag him through the Valley of Vision where he dies to self and is conformed to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ. What an honest and transparent testimony…….
Read Skyler’s Testimony HERE
Now Skyler’s life verse is more real than ever: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” 2 Timothy 4:7
Overwhelmed by His Grace,
Dan
“For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil 1:21)
Hell will be filled with people who planned to “get around to God” someday.
They thought they had time. They thought later was guaranteed. But later never came……….
Men: Is Christ your life?
You are never more secure than when you realize you do not control the future and you trust in the Lord for His Providential care – when you acknowledge, “Christ is my life.”
Counting On Tomorrow – Day 207 Red Book
The purpose of these devotionals is to help you think Biblically
Solomon said, “As a man thinks, so is he”
How many times have you heard people make these worldly statements?
- “I’m saving up so I can travel the world later.”
- “When the kids are grown, we’ll finally enjoy life again.”
- “I’ll deal with spiritual stuff when I’m older.”
- “Eventually I’ll find time to slow down and read more”
- “I’ll fix things with my dad… just not yet.”
- “I know I should forgive him… maybe later.” (Matt 6:15) Terrifying!
Send Day 207 to your buddies
Walter and Leette Henrichsen
Walt: 2/20/1934 – 8/29/2016
Leette: 11/28/1934 – 7/18/2025
As many of you know, Walt’s wife, Leette, died last week. I can’t think of any two people that impacted more lives through “one-on-one” discipleship than this precious couple.
A brother on Wednesday,- who was given a Blue Book (Thoughts From the Diary of a Desperate Man) asked me, “Who is Walt Henrichsen?” This is what I wrote back to him:
Walt was the man that discipled me from 1993 to 2016 (he never let go of me right up to 2 months prior to his death). God had His hand on him because he discipled 100’s of men and through the Holy Spirit we were all radically changed.
Because of him, MIM was created. I can’t even begin to describe the impact this one man had on so many lives…… and the amazing thing, he was “off the radar.” He had godly humility and avoided recognition. He memorized huge parts of the Bible and focused on the “application” of the Word in men’s lives. He wrote the 3 main devotionals (I call them the Blue, Red and Green books. You can find them here: MIMbooks.com
I also mentioned to this brother, the following comment that I shared with some of the Friday guys:
The times that I met Walt and Leette at their home in San Diego, upon leaving, and walking down their sidewalk, I turned around on two occasions and pointed at that house and said, “Lord, I don’t know what I just experienced inside that home between Walt and Leette, but I want it!”
Walt and Leette are now both home. How glorious is that!
God Doesn’t Make Junk
John 10:10 Project
Pop Quiz: “Of all the creatures on earth that can swim, which one of them is designed to move through the water with the highest degree of efficiency? Hint…. It’s not a penguin
Men: Somehow I missed this remarkable video from a few years back. My granddaughters mentioned they were recently at an aquarium and talked about the creatures in the video. Don’t miss watching it….. amazing
God Doesn’t Make Junk (7:30 min)
Jesus vs. Aristotle and Plato, et al
When the Sabbath came, Jesus began teaching in the synagogue, and many who heard Him were amazed. They asked, “Where did He get all this wisdom and the power to perform such miracles?” (Mark 6:2)
ENRICHING EVERY SPHERE
“Socrates taught for 40 years, Plato for 50, Aristotle for 40, and Jesus for only three, yet the influence of Christ’s 3-year ministry infinitely transcends the impact left by the combined 130 years of teaching from these men who were among the greatest philosophers of all antiquity. Jesus painted no pictures; yet, some of the finest paintings of Raphael, Michelangelo, and Leonardo da Vinci received their inspiration from Him.”
“Jesus wrote no poetry, but Dante, Milton, and scores of the world’s greatest poets were inspired by Him. Jesus composed no music; still Haydn, Handel, Beethoven, Bach, and Mendelssohn reached their highest perfection of melody in the hymns, symphonies, and oratories they composed in His praise. Every sphere of human greatness has been enriched by this humble Carpenter of Nazareth.”
~ Henry G Bosch – Founder of Our Daily Bread
The Seeker vs. The Skeptic
Men: You can talk about dog noses, amazing creatures of the ocean or the profound impact that Jesus has had over the centuries (see above)…..
But never forget this:
Conversion comes solely through the gospel in all of its simplicity, not because of craftily formed arguments and logic. Proclaim the gospel from a posture of inadequacy and dependence. Don’t try to impress people through technique. You will not bring people to conversion by satisfying the needs of reason. They come because the Holy Spirit has transformed their hearts.
The gospel is eminently reasonable when you accept its presuppositions. But logic and reason cannot bring a person to acceptance. This marks the difference between the seeker and the skeptic. Reason may help the seeker, because God has already touched his heart, but it can do nothing for the skeptic. Human wisdom is not bad. It just cannot bring a person to God.
[Taken from: Day 204 Message and Messenger]Â
The Spiritually Vigorous Saint
By Oswald Chambers
Men: This was good…….
…that I may know Him… —Philippians 3:10
A saint is not to take the initiative toward self-realization, but toward knowing Jesus Christ. A spiritually vigorous saint never believes that his circumstances simply happen at random, nor does he ever think of his life as being divided into the secular and the sacred. He sees every situation in which he finds himself as the means of obtaining a greater knowledge of Jesus Christ, and he has an attitude of unrestrained abandon and total surrender about him. The Holy Spirit is determined that we will have the realization of Jesus Christ in every area of our lives, and He will bring us back to the same point over and over again until we do. Self-realization only leads to the glorification of good works, whereas a saint of God glorifies Jesus Christ through his good works. Whatever we may be doing— even eating, drinking, or washing disciples’ feet— we have to take the initiative of realizing and recognizing Jesus Christ in it. Every phase of our life has its counterpart in the life of Jesus. Our Lord realized His relationship to the Father even in the most menial task. “Jesus, knowing…that He had come from God and was going to God,…took a towel…and began to wash the disciples’ feet…” (John 13:3-5).
The aim of a spiritually vigorous saint is “that I may know Him…” Do I know Him where I am today? If not, I am failing Him. I am not here for self-realization, but to know Jesus Christ. In Christian work our initiative and motivation are too often simply the result of realizing that there is work to be done and that we must do it. Yet that is never the attitude of a spiritually vigorous saint. His aim is to achieve the realization of Jesus Christ in every set of circumstances.
Link To: The Spiritually Vigorous Saint
Can you name a few things that you succeeded at that really don’t matter?
William Carey (1761-1834): The humble shoemaker who became the father of modern missions and missionary to India — proof that God can use ordinary people to do extraordinary things.