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| So I went home this weekend, just for a day. It's crazy because I can almost swear Bruno, our St. Bernard, has some kind of sixth sense about it. (He had run away but) he always comes home when I'm there whereas my family otherwise doesn't see him much. At our Sunday lunch before my parents leave for a sing, my mom says ohhhh.. well, we have some distressing news on our answering machine though.. Bruno's in trouble.
The message goes something like this...
>>Hi, this is ______ Cumberland County Animal Control and apparently your saint bernard was, umm, caught killing some of the neighbor's cats and they said he has done this before.. and they are very upset and they want you to keep your dog at home or on your property.. (something about our dog running their horse, too.) They said you're a good neighbor but your dog has to be kept on your property. I wanted to call and give you a heads up, the sheriff was called out there or whatever.. But I do want to thank you for having your dog currently vaccinated but don't forget to register him 'cause there is a$200 fine for that. (explains how to register...) Anyway, I just wanted to let you know before any civil suit was filed.. I told them to give me a chance to talk to you first, so I'm leaving this message. Like I said, I wanted to thank you for your responsibility and hopefully you'll be able to keep Bruno around home. Thanks, bye.
WHAT THE!? .. but wait, there's a second message. It's from my cousin who also got a call concerning the same matter, except concerning her dog who I guess was Bruno's accomplice.. 
(Background Info)
~ My parents have never kept our dogs chained or penned up, they think that is cruel to the animals, and one plus of living in the country is that you wouldn't have to.
~ Money may be an issue. Someone suggested an underground fence which could be a possibility but hard since they are expensive and even more so, because we have a large amount of property.
~ My mom said Bruno was registered in 2006 but they didn't register him last year as he was basically adopted by some of our neighbors that live about a mile down the road from us. Since I was gone and we all thought Bruno deserved the extra attention from their kid(s) anyway, there was no problem with this. They even told others about 'their' dog, renamed him, and claimed him as their own. When they were called about this incident though, he is no longer their dog.
~ To put it bluntly, Bruno is the bomb. He seems to be a little too
big for his own good sometimes, but what do you expect with a saint
bernard!? He's very sweet and affectionate, loves to be given belly
rubs, is best buddies with our wild cats (has almost tamed them
himself) and can be playful as well..
    
...which leads to the problem of our
neighbor's cats being killed. When he was a puppy, yet had grown into
a bigger body, I remember he was playing with some of our (stray and
wild) kittens and he played a little too hard with them and some died.
To me, it seems like he's still a puppy, just stuck in a bigger body. It's just like Lennie in Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men!"
Sigh.
What to do?
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| Several years ago, I gave thought to this holiday we call Thanksgiving and its purpose.. how it has become, for many, a time where there are passing thoughts of 'thankfulness' but mostly, the day is all about the food... and for some, the holiday is all about taking a 'break' from school... And as I was thinking, it lends support to, sometimes even gives us an excuse to drown ourselves in gluttony.
So we drown ourselves in gluttony. Not a good thing. Last night I randomly found this article and found it rather fitting. It talks about our addiction to pleasure, pointing out how we always want MORE. It reminds us that gluttony can involve an overindulgence of a number of things, not just food. Yet, aren't we as Christians called to be different... people exhibiting self-control!? People in the world but not of it!?
G. K. Chesterton explains that wanting more of a good thing perverts
the gift of pleasure. To refuse any restrictions on pleasures such as
sex doesn't harmonize with a fitting use of the gift. According to
Chesterton, "A man is a fool who complains that he cannot enter Eden by
five gates at once." 3 Be thankful for the one gate you have! Philip Yancey, commenting on Chesterton's views, "came to see sex,
money, power, and sensory pleasures as God's gifts which, in a fallen
world, must be handled with care, like explosives." In our world, each
of these good gifts holds "the potential for abuse. Eating becomes
gluttony, love becomes lust, and along the way we lose sight of the One
who gave us pleasure. The ancients turned good things into idols; we
moderns call them addictions. In either case, what ceases to be a
servant becomes a tyrant."4
In handling these good gifts rightly, then, Chesterton offers a
model not of abstinence but of moderation, limiting ourselves by
appropriate boundaries. He suggests that "the proper form of thanks ...
is some form of humility and restraint: We thank God for beer and
Burgundy by not drinking too much of them." This article is so ON POINT! I suggest you read it.
Basically, I'm reminded how messed up my heart is. There are so many things I am reminded that I need to work on: being thankful, learning self-control, denying myself, giving up worldly addictions.. How much more it makes sense now to give up my worldly addictions which are, in essence, my idols. They are not honoring to God. They are things I have placed above God in importance.
And as God has been teaching me, it's not about obedience, it's not about abstaining from the 'bad.' Yes that should be a byproduct of following after Jesus... but that's missing the point entirely! The point: It's ALL ABOUT HIM, realizing His worth, wanting to put Him first, doing all I can to make that happen. It's about the heart behind the matter, not about the externals. From a right heart, the obedience comes. May I do my best in always striving to make my heart right before God.
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| My vision of God is dependent upon the condition of my character.
My character determines whether or not truth can even be revealed
to me. What I need is God's surgical procedure -- His use
of external circumstances to bring about internal purification.
God has to take us into the valley and put us through fires
and floods to batter us into shape, until we get to the point
where He can trust us with the reality of the vision.
AMEN.
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| Oh my, it just hit me a few moments ago... I am 23.  !? Such a weird number and a strange age.
It's pretty bad when in a matter of two weeks, 4 different kids of varying ages ask me if I'm a mommy. Each time I reply "No" and then "Why?" The answers have ranged but all say basically the same thing: You're big.
No, I'm not married and no, there isn't a boyfriend. Yep, I have had a growing little pooch and no, it's not a kid. The genes are taking over and I gotta fight if there's to be any success. There is no idleness when it comes to staying fit in any area of life. It makes more sense [with illustrations]... you have got to be intentional or it just gets worse.
And yes, this is how I make my re-entry into the xanga world.
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| Challenges and circumstances unexpected in Colorado but God works despite...
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