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I got a bigger dog. Male. Eighteen months.
Otis is nothing that I asked for
and everything I need.
Here's to God saying NO! because He knows me better than I do! Whoop whoop!
GOD ROX!
Thursday, January 9, 2014
I Thank God He Gives Me What I Need and Not What I Want
I shopped for a dog for many months. I knew exactly what I wanted: Smaller dog. Female. Three years or older.
I got a bigger dog. Male. Eighteen months.
Otis is nothing that I asked for
and everything I need.
Here's to God saying NO! because He knows me better than I do! Whoop whoop!
GOD ROX!
I got a bigger dog. Male. Eighteen months.
Otis is nothing that I asked for
and everything I need.
Here's to God saying NO! because He knows me better than I do! Whoop whoop!
GOD ROX!
Thursday, January 2, 2014
Bait Dogs & The Cross
One week ago, we adopted Otis from the local Humane Society. Later, I noticed a tiny green line tattooed on his belly. Several people told me he'd been marked as a Bait Dog.
Bait Dog? I had no idea what that meant, so I researched it. People who want to teach aggressive dogs how to hone their skills at mauling and killing take bait dogs, duct tape their mouths shut (to protect the aggressive dogs from injury) and tie this dog to a pole on a short leash. Then the aggressive dogs are set loose to tear up the bait dog. Yes - tear up. Few bait dogs survive the experience and those that do would probably be better off dead.
Every time I look into the gentle eyes of my Otis, I see submissive love with a huge desire to please. Perfect qualities for a bait dog. When I see the tattoo on his belly, I think of the overwhelming injustice and cruelty that takes place on our planet every second of every day.
Children exploited in sex trade. Children raped by family members. Babies aborted. Elderly slapped around, and in parts of the world where it's legal, euthanized without their permission.
Evil pervades our planet. And yet we are taught unless we believe that Jesus died on the cross for our sins we will burn in hell forever.
First, I know the Bible fairly well and I can't find any verse that states that exact thought. The goal of "going to heaven" isn't a concept I can find in the Bible.
Second, take Lydia (a fictitious person). She is born into a single parent home. Her mother's boyfriends routinely abuse and rape her from the time of her toddlerhood until she runs away at 14.
The people at her mother's church tell her God loves her.
Really? Then why doesn't he stop my hell?
On the streets, she gets hooked on drugs, the only thing that blocks the hell of her past, even if only for a few hours. She OD's at 22 and dies.
Now, is God going to roast her forever in the lake of fire because she 'turned her back on him'? What kind of a God would create humans with free will, knowing that decision would unleash unfathomable cruelty in his creation and then consign the vast majority to everlasting torment?
Salvation must be much, much bigger, vaster than our trite little doctrines. Believe Jesus died for you to go to heaven. Don't and you go to hell. I've observed that those who hold so firmly to that doctrine are already "in" and true compassion for the "outs" cannot exist in this mindset.
The grace of God has dawned upon the world with healing for ALL mankind. Titus 2:12
As in Adam all men die, so in Christ ALL will be brought to life; but each IN HIS OWN PROPER PLACE. 1 Corinthians 15:22.
God's salvation is as vast as God. Let's stop cheapening it with such a tiny interpretation: heaven vs. hell.
Bait Dog? I had no idea what that meant, so I researched it. People who want to teach aggressive dogs how to hone their skills at mauling and killing take bait dogs, duct tape their mouths shut (to protect the aggressive dogs from injury) and tie this dog to a pole on a short leash. Then the aggressive dogs are set loose to tear up the bait dog. Yes - tear up. Few bait dogs survive the experience and those that do would probably be better off dead.
Every time I look into the gentle eyes of my Otis, I see submissive love with a huge desire to please. Perfect qualities for a bait dog. When I see the tattoo on his belly, I think of the overwhelming injustice and cruelty that takes place on our planet every second of every day.
Children exploited in sex trade. Children raped by family members. Babies aborted. Elderly slapped around, and in parts of the world where it's legal, euthanized without their permission.
Evil pervades our planet. And yet we are taught unless we believe that Jesus died on the cross for our sins we will burn in hell forever.
First, I know the Bible fairly well and I can't find any verse that states that exact thought. The goal of "going to heaven" isn't a concept I can find in the Bible.
Second, take Lydia (a fictitious person). She is born into a single parent home. Her mother's boyfriends routinely abuse and rape her from the time of her toddlerhood until she runs away at 14.
The people at her mother's church tell her God loves her.
Really? Then why doesn't he stop my hell?
On the streets, she gets hooked on drugs, the only thing that blocks the hell of her past, even if only for a few hours. She OD's at 22 and dies.
Now, is God going to roast her forever in the lake of fire because she 'turned her back on him'? What kind of a God would create humans with free will, knowing that decision would unleash unfathomable cruelty in his creation and then consign the vast majority to everlasting torment?
Salvation must be much, much bigger, vaster than our trite little doctrines. Believe Jesus died for you to go to heaven. Don't and you go to hell. I've observed that those who hold so firmly to that doctrine are already "in" and true compassion for the "outs" cannot exist in this mindset.
The grace of God has dawned upon the world with healing for ALL mankind. Titus 2:12
As in Adam all men die, so in Christ ALL will be brought to life; but each IN HIS OWN PROPER PLACE. 1 Corinthians 15:22.
God's salvation is as vast as God. Let's stop cheapening it with such a tiny interpretation: heaven vs. hell.
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
No Power Over Me
Pilate informed Jesus that he could kill him or spare him. Jesus answered, "The only power you have over me is the power given to you by God."
The same is true in my life. The enemy must seek God's permission to harm me (Read Job 1). And, when God does grant permission, he also give parameters that must be obeyed.
Yesterday, I almost lost my dog. He's still a puppy at 18 months. When I opened the door, next to a four lane highway, his exuberance pushed me and him out of the car. He loped around the small lawn at the bank, just ahead of my grasp. I had put his leash on at the house and tried to step on it to halt his carefree romp. Next, he bounced onto the highway. I glanced left and right. Cars approached about a block away in both directions. I dashed into the street after him, finally stopping his joy-romp. All the cars had slowed when they saw the crazy woman running after her dog.
A few hours later, Bob and I were less than 2 miles from home when a tire blew on his Mini Couper. The car instantly spun out of control and we shot across the street backwards, down an embankment about 5' deep, hit another embankment, and slid into the ditch just the width of the Mini. All I can remember is screaming, "O GOD!" three times and briefly wondering how bad we'd be hurt when the car stopped.
The enemy can try to take me out, but he can go only as far as Papa God has granted him permission. Neither Bob nor I suffered any injury and the Mini only a dent in the rear bumper and minor damage to the bottom of the front bumper. Scared? Yes. But never abandoned.
My life could have ended on New Years Eve, 2013. But it didn't because God orders my steps. God holds the day of my departure in his hand and that brings great security to my heart because:
He who calls you is to be trusted. 1 Thessalonians 5:24
How I love my Faithful Forever Friend!
The same is true in my life. The enemy must seek God's permission to harm me (Read Job 1). And, when God does grant permission, he also give parameters that must be obeyed.
Yesterday, I almost lost my dog. He's still a puppy at 18 months. When I opened the door, next to a four lane highway, his exuberance pushed me and him out of the car. He loped around the small lawn at the bank, just ahead of my grasp. I had put his leash on at the house and tried to step on it to halt his carefree romp. Next, he bounced onto the highway. I glanced left and right. Cars approached about a block away in both directions. I dashed into the street after him, finally stopping his joy-romp. All the cars had slowed when they saw the crazy woman running after her dog.
A few hours later, Bob and I were less than 2 miles from home when a tire blew on his Mini Couper. The car instantly spun out of control and we shot across the street backwards, down an embankment about 5' deep, hit another embankment, and slid into the ditch just the width of the Mini. All I can remember is screaming, "O GOD!" three times and briefly wondering how bad we'd be hurt when the car stopped.
The enemy can try to take me out, but he can go only as far as Papa God has granted him permission. Neither Bob nor I suffered any injury and the Mini only a dent in the rear bumper and minor damage to the bottom of the front bumper. Scared? Yes. But never abandoned.
My life could have ended on New Years Eve, 2013. But it didn't because God orders my steps. God holds the day of my departure in his hand and that brings great security to my heart because:
He who calls you is to be trusted. 1 Thessalonians 5:24
How I love my Faithful Forever Friend!
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