Day 20

I have only got twenty days to go now! Despite swearing a few times because I couldn’t get the stupid computer to edit my links properly for a while after discovering that one of them didn’t work, I think I’m getting there! Praise to God for the people around me and the ministers in the sky that he uses in every way to help with administering his will to every Christian. Now I am sounding like the apostle Paul! Gosh. What will happen next? I didn’t think that God could bring me this far in twenty days. How far wil God carry me for the rest of the way? The fact that I can only just control my tongue, which has been demonstrated right now when I nearly lost the focus on where I was writing at the end of this post, is quite an achievement for me. Truly, I really can’t believe this myself.

Another thing I’d like to not believe except that I know it happened is when I had a dream before I woke up this morning. I was at this massive crusade, and there were millions upon millions of Christians there. Then I heard voices at the front of this huge massive auditorium. One of them sounded like Billy Graham. I thought that was helarious because he’s not on earth anymore! Then there were other voices I didn’t recognise at all. The person sounding like Billy Graham said there would be a guest speaker after him who’d preach about the people who proclaim the name of the Lord and worship him, like all these Christians, yet at the same time either don’t know him, or have backslided from him. I found that freaky! Fancy a few billion Christians worshipping God, except that we don’t know that some of them are just acting as Christians, or who sincerely feel that they’re with Jesus but don’t realise they’ve backslidden! O God I thought. Then, this most amazing thing occured, something I’ve never witnessed in my whole life since the day of my birth, or at least from the first time I’ve ever experienced a beautiful church choir.

After hearing this person (sounding like Billy Graham) finish his speech, what I thought was a Christian choir of huge proportions began to sing to God. I thought to myself, “Hey! That’s all my friends singing!” And behold, I discovered that all, or at least most, of the people were singing! So here I am, in my dream thinking that these are my Christian brothers and sisters who I called my friends, despite not knowing most of them. That shows me how much I’m really trying to love God now doesn’t it? So anyway, I started to feel as though I was getting ready to join in with them, until I realised that I was hearing an incoherent language except for the word hallelujah. O gosh that was even more amazing! Then suddenly I heard a door closing. I got so frightened because I didn’t understand why a door would close like that! I then quickly woke up to learn that it was actually my mother closing the front door of our house, and the singers weren’t people at this crusade which I thought I was at, surrounded by all my new friends. They were angels singing to God! I couldn’t stop thanking and praising Jesus after that.

I kept telling myself, “Well at least I’m not feeling so sick now!” because last night I came down with some twenty-four hour tummy bug which made me feel so nauseated that I was lucky not to vomit. This morning I feel slightly sick still, but much better praise God! I’d like to know that even though I dreamed of the crusade and the singers were most of my new friends singing to Jesus, maybe it was in fact God using the angels to sing to God in my hearing so I’d worship Jesus in my sleep and that would make me feel better? I’m certain that God allowed me to dream of the crusade while the angels were singing out to God so I wouldn’t be scared of them! Truly, if it wasn’t for the dream, I think I’d die of great fear, because I don’t expect this huge choir to start singing all around me like what happened when I had the dream. The choir was truly out of this world, and I’m now thinking of the story in the gospels of where the angels started singing after talking to the shepherds. God works in mysterious ways.

Isaiah 55:8–11: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”

If what happened this morning is amazing, just imagine how amazing it’ll be when we get to heaven and see this kind of worship with all the rest of the saints!

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

The “NIV” and “New International Version” trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica. Use of either trademark requires the permission of Biblica.

These Scriptures have been made available on the Internet for your personal use only. Any other use including, but not limited to, copying or re-posting the Scripture on the Internet is prohibited. These Scriptures may not be altered or modified in any form but must remain in their original context. These Scriptures may not be sold or otherwise offered for sale–to include online banner ads that encapsulate linkages to these Scriptures for the purpose of selling online ad space. These Scriptures are free for all online use. These Scriptures are not public domain. These Scriptures are not shareware and may not be duplicated.

When quotations from the NIV text are used in non-salable media such as church bulletins, orders of service, posters, transparencies or similar media, a complete copyright notice is not required, but the initial NIV must appear at the end of each quotation.

Any commentary or other Biblical reference work produced for commercial sale that uses the New International Version must obtain written permission for the use of the NIV text.

Permission requests for commercial use within the U.S. and Canada that exceed the above guidelines must be directed to, and approved in writing by, Zondervan, 5300 Patterson Avenue SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49530.

Permission requests for commercial use within the U.K., EEC, and EFTA countries that exceed the above guidelines must be directed to, and approved in writing by, Hodder & Stoughton Ltd., a member of the Hodder Headline Plc. Group, 338 Euston Road, London NW1 3BH.

Things you love about your dog

Hi everyone!

I found
this post
while perusing the blogs. Go to
Life with the Park City Dogs
then click on
Reyna.

From what I read of the blog, she’s a beautiful puppy and I’ll bet all of my money that she’ll become a guide! I’d love to keep her for myself, but I know I only need one guide dog. So, here’s the things I really love about Troy

The funny yawning noises (especially when waking up from a lovely snooze or when in harness for long hours and situations of the like)
the way he lays in front of, or on my feet
When he rolls on his back and flails around as though he’s running!
When Troy is asleep and dreams, he barks, growls etc, very funny indeed!
The way he bounces and slips around when he’s very excited and is working really hard at the same time!
The times I snuggle with him
His beautiful coat (he reminds me of cuddling a massive teddy bear, only he’s a living breathing animated one!)
His enthusiasm every time he sees that we’re ready to go out
When I ask him to find the bus stop, he starts litterally running to it! I very quickly slow him down, because otherwise I end up being dragged like a sack of potatoes.
His alertness despite hard work all day long e.g the times at University when I get on a bus to leave at around 4:30 in the afternoon, and Troy acts as though it’s the start of the day. Now, I don’t know who’s like that except for my dog! Please tell me if you know of service animals as enthusiastic as him…
We come home from University, Troy has a quick half an hour nap, then expects to be taken for a walk, or at least it’s work to him. Yeah right.
His ever-renewing vitality, that vibe he gives you that says, “Every time you say hello to me it’s as if it’s the first time meeting each other!”
The fact that Troy picks up on my stress and other mood swings and comforts me. He even allowed me to cuddle him two weeks ago at church despite being in harness! Now how he knew to behave just as normal while helping me feel better after someone related to a family at our church died, is absolutely astounding! I was so sad, yet Troy has always been there to lift my spirits. He provided me the same miracle cure to my grief when a friend I knew from a few years ago, was murdered about two months ago. My actual feelings of sadness can’t be cured of course, but that perpetual feeling of hopelessness and raw grief feelings were cured, allowing me to move on much quicker. That general grief feeling that you get when you know that a good person shouldn’t have died is of course still with me. I just know if Troy wasn’t here to help me, I’d still feel hopeless and raw, and God only knows what I would have done myself… I think the best cure for suicide is… get a dog! At least you’ll know that instead of killing yourself to get away from this cruel world, all you need to do is cuddle the dog until his lovely vibes take you off the planet! Best way to die to this world and feel like you’re dead but still physically alive… then when you come back to reality you can at least tell yourself that you’re still here, but with a heavy weight lifted from your shoulders. And at the end of the day, your dog isn’t going to give up on you if he has to put up with this ritual of grief processing for a week or more.

I won’t write more in this list, because it’s virtually endless. If anyone wishes to make a comment, I’d like to know of a list of things you really like about your service animal? Make the list as long as you like… I find this subject very interesting, and if anyone has a pet I’d like to know as well.

I hate copyright laws sometimes

Honestly, I don’t know why people put copyright laws on the very Word of God! After speaking to
Justin
this morning, I’m not really interested in the money thing anymore. Yes, the translators did hard work, and yes someone needs money to eat and so forth; that’s supported in the Bible. But has God ever asked us not to distribute his Word just because there’s money involved in writing it and then putting it in print when printers were invented? And we were never told that we’re not allowed to copy it for friends unless we ask God first. Yet we make up hard rules and regulations about how we should and shouldn’t distribute the Bible! Well, I’m really starting to just give up on these laws. The Bible tells us to obey the laws of the land. Click the following link to read an article about this, which has a number of Bible references which deals with this subject:
Bible Questions Answered
When it discusses breaking a law when the law contradicts God’s command, I’m reminded of Scriptures where we’re told to distribute it to as many people as possible. The Bible tells us not to distort it, but those that do distort it will be punished, so it’s not our responsibility what others do; it’s our responsibility for what we do, unless given reason to believe otherwise. So, as far as I’m concerned, unless I’m given a legitimate reason other than money, I’m quoting whatever verses I want from whatever version suits me. It’s God’s word, not ours. And if he says to distribute it, then I’ll do it. Then it’s God’s responsibility to deal with me if I distort it, which is not my intent, and he knows my heart on this matter, regardless of what others think. I don’t need someone’s permission to distribute the Bible when God has already given us permission to do it!

Sorry for being outspoken, but I’m not afraid of man anymore. I’m afraid of God who can cast me into hell. I’m not litterally afraid of him every minute,, but when I am it’s during times of pondering like these when I realise that it’s not man’s job to decide what happens to God’s written words. Unless God decided the copyright laws… I don’t know. But it goes back to my previous points where God hasn’t written in his word not to distribute it at all except on written permission; just don’t distort it.

Day 19

So… I haven’t been to this blog for four days now. I always get like this; I write every day for a while, then need a break, or Mum is at the computer… and other interuptions. That’s going to end at some point, because I’m getting a part-time job soon and am going to save some money to move into a little unit at some point. Or, if Mum chooses to find somewhere for herself, I’ll keep this house. It’s a beautiful house we live in.

This leads us to the topic of deliverance.

Before I go on to write my own reflections on the subject, I’d like to bring up the subject of copyright again. We’ve all been mislead into thinking that it’s illegal to paste Niv quotations on the Internet. Well, I read the copyright notice myself, and here is what it says:

Copyright Information
The NIV text may be quoted in any form (written, visual, electronic or audio), up to and inclusive of five hundred (500) verses without express written permission of the publisher, providing the verses do not amount to a complete book of the Bible nor do the verses quoted account for twenty-five percent (25%) or more of the total text of the work in which they are quoted.

When the NIV is quoted in works that exercise the above fair use clause, notice of copyright must appear on the title or copyright page or opening screen of the work (whichever is appropriate) as follows:

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
The “NIV” and “New International Version” trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica. Use of either trademark requires the permission of Biblica.

These Scriptures have been made available on the Internet for your personal use only. Any other use including, but not limited to, copying or re-posting the Scripture on the Internet is prohibited. These Scriptures may not be altered or modified in any form but must remain in their original context. These Scriptures may not be sold or otherwise offered for sale–to include online banner ads that encapsulate linkages to these Scriptures for the purpose of selling online ad space. These Scriptures are free for all online use. These Scriptures are not public domain. These Scriptures are not shareware and may not be duplicated.

When quotations from the NIV text are used in non-salable media such as church bulletins, orders of service, posters, transparencies or similar media, a complete copyright notice is not required, but the initial NIV must appear at the end of each quotation.

Any commentary or other Biblical reference work produced for commercial sale that uses the New International Version must obtain written permission for the use of the NIV text.

Permission requests for commercial use within the U.S. and Canada that exceed the above guidelines must be directed to, and approved in writing by, Zondervan, 5300 Patterson Avenue SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49530.

Permission requests for commercial use within the U.K., EEC, and EFTA countries that exceed the above guidelines must be directed to, and approved in writing by, Hodder & Stoughton Ltd., a member of the Hodder Headline Plc. Group, 338 Euston Road, London NW1 3BH.

This is the whole notice, and if you’d like to go to the website to look for yourself then click this link

I hope this clears any misconceptions people may have over this. I can quote up to 500 verses, but cannot quote an entire book of the Bible. Now that makes more sense to me. Sorry about bagging the companies. Oh, and I have to put the copyright trademark symbol at the end of each quotation. I’ll do that too.

I find deliverance a complex subject. Deliverance is all throughout the Bible, and I believe it points to demonic deliverance a lot of the time, because the New Testament has a lot of deliverances where Jesus and his disciples drive out evil spirits. However, deliverance can also mean a lot of other things. To me, deliverance comes down to having it a bit easier when I get a part-time job, because I’ll get a bit more money so I can help out with family finances a bit more. So that would be deliverance from minor financial trouble. What about waking up from a nightmare? When I wake up from one and pray to Jesus or almost scream out at him is more like it! lol! Then I would call that deliverance from trouble, even though that trouble isn’t chronic. But when God helps me get over a nightmare I think it’s very liberating! Two nights ago I woke up after having a nightmare about both of my hands. The skin was flaking off my palms, and I could hear someone’s voice talking about something but don’t remember what. Then suddenly, this entity or whatever it was said “Give me a hug! Your hands are…” then something incoherent about my skin going bad or something! I woke up and called out to Jesus when I realised by discernment that it was an evil spirit tormenting me. I believe this has partly to do with me renewing my faith in God. See? There’s another example of deliverance. I’m being delivered from my bondage to sin and possibly control of the evil one, because I effectively let him control my life when I used to swear over every little thing and curse God when I didn’t get my way, and all the rest. So now that I’m getting cured of all this, something out there doesn’t like it. I believe that forty days isn’t the end-all thing though. It’s just the getting started period so to speak. Christianity is a life-long process, so I’m using this forty days to get it going again. I’ve been a Christian since I was fourteen, but have been struggling with my faith for all these nine years. I don’t intend to destroy my faith now! I really need to get used to getting through all manner of trials and persecutions so I don’t lose it by the time I’m ready to die. I hope I die when I’m old, but I also hope I’m healthy when I’m old so I don’t have to die because of discomfort of any kind.

I’m noticing that my swearing habit is getting less and less. I still flare up when I get exciteable or very angry though. I haven’t been swearing as much all the same. I’m assuming that my deliverance from bondage to sin is going to be a slow one, but it all depends on when God wants to hasten it. Most likely he won’t do this. The Lord does everything in his own time and whenever he wants to.

When I’m thinking about deliverance and when God chooses to deliver people and how, etc… I’m reminded of these Scriptures:

Deuteronomy 32:35
“It is mine to avenge; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them.”
Psalm 31:15
“My times are in your hands; deliver me from my enemies and from those who pursue me.”
Psalm 75:2
“You say, “I choose the appointed time; it is I who judge uprightly.”
Probervs 24:10
“If you falter in times of trouble, how small is your strength!”
Verse 16
” …for though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again, but the wicked are brought down by calamity.”
Isaiah 46:10
“I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.”
Psalm 34:7 and 91:11-12
“The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.”
“For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”

The book of Judges as there are examples of deliverance right the way through it and I’m not allowed to copy the whole book, plus too many verses for the verse count of 500.
Psalm 18:2
“The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”
etc.

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

The NIV text may be quoted in any form (written, visual, electronic or audio), up to and inclusive of five hundred (500) verses without express written permission of the publisher, providing the verses do not amount to a complete book of the Bible nor do the verses quoted account for twenty-five percent (25%) or more of the total text of the work in which they are quoted.

When the NIV is quoted in works that exercise the above fair use clause, notice of copyright must appear on the title or copyright page or opening screen of the work (whichever is appropriate) as follows:

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
The “NIV” and “New International Version” trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica. Use of either trademark requires the permission of Biblica.

These Scriptures have been made available on the Internet for your personal use only. Any other use including, but not limited to, copying or re-posting the Scripture on the Internet is prohibited. These Scriptures may not be altered or modified in any form but must remain in their original context. These Scriptures may not be sold or otherwise offered for sale–to include online banner ads that encapsulate linkages to these Scriptures for the purpose of selling online ad space. These Scriptures are free for all online use. These Scriptures are not public domain. These Scriptures are not shareware and may not be duplicated.

When quotations from the NIV text are used in non-salable media such as church bulletins, orders of service, posters, transparencies or similar media, a complete copyright notice is not required, but the initial NIV must appear at the end of each quotation.

Any commentary or other Biblical reference work produced for commercial sale that uses the New International Version must obtain written permission for the use of the NIV text.

Permission requests for commercial use within the U.S. and Canada that exceed the above guidelines must be directed to, and approved in writing by, Zondervan, 5300 Patterson Avenue SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49530.

Permission requests for commercial use within the U.K., EEC, and EFTA countries that exceed the above guidelines must be directed to, and approved in writing by, Hodder & Stoughton Ltd., a member of the Hodder Headline Plc. Group, 338 Euston Road, London NW1 3BH.

Day 13

All right! Today is day thirteen of my forty-day commitment plan! So, I’m going to discuss commitment. There’ll be a list of Scriptures at the end as well. Or maybe I’ll just refer to them as I go. I’ll just do that instead, because it’s one of those posts where I just have to put stuff in as I go along.

There have been times this week where I have wanted to just give up on it. So should I change the word commitment to perseverance? Because I think that word sounds much better. So that’s what I’m writing about. perseverance. The fact that I’m still writing in here about how things are going in this regard shows that I’m persevering rather than giving up. Read 1 Corinthians 13 4-8. The word “fails” is the finish of that specific reference. Also read 2 Thesalonians 3:5, 1 Timothy 4:16, Hebrews 10:36, James 5:11 and 2 Peter 1:6.

Day 12

I’m up to day 12… and have to type this again. My computer locked up and I’m starting to hate Internet Explorer 8 because sometimes it lets me restore my last session and other times, like this time, it doesn’t do that. So now I’m keeping this post shorter than intended. Mind you, it still may turn out long enough for a good drink or snack if I put down a whole list of Scriptures dealing with God’s love and prayer. Damn the computers sometimes though. They don’t appreciate that sometimes when Troy needs a bath it’ll do him good and I’m not going to run away!

So, I’m basically going to give a list of Scriptures on God’s love, then we’ll see what else I can think of after that.

First, prayer. We all feel that God can or can’t answer prayer, so here’s a list of Scripture references, because it’s apparently illegal for me to quote NIV Scriptures on the Internet. I don’t like that at all, but according to
Justin
there are copyright laws associated with it. It’s a bit peculiar that one.

Anyway, here they are:
Deuteronomy 4:7
1 Samuel 1
2 Kings 6:17-18; 19:4; 20:5
1 Chronicles 5:20
2 Chronicles 7:14; 33:13
Psalm 32:6 etc
and some New Testament Scriptures:
Mathew 6:6; 21:22
Mark 11:24
Luke 18:9-14
etc
Hundreds of them!

The next subject is God’s love. We think of hundreds of reasons why we reckon God does or doesn’t love us. So, here’s some Scriptures to tell us what he thinks:

Exodus 34:5-7
Numbers 14:18-19
Deuteronomy 7:9; 28; 33:3
2 Chronicles 6:14
Nehemiah:1-5; 9:16-18
Job 37:13
Psalm 6:4; 17:7; 25:6-7; 32:10; 36:5; 36:7
Proverbs 3:12
etc
and some New Testament Scriptures:
John 16:27
Romans 1:7; 5:5, 8
2 Corinthians 13:14
etc

I could make the list pages longer, but I won’t. Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way I’d like to say that I’m slowly getting there! I still sin, but there’s noone who doesn’t sin, so I’ll get over it. I don’t consider that we’re better as Chritians, all I consider is that we have Jesus with Us, and the world doesn’t. So that’s why we need to just live a life and hope to Christ that it shows God to the world.

Well, I’m going to spend the rest of the day reading my Bible. I hope this post will give someone a good period of time to relax with a hot or cold drink or yummy snack! I’m going to curl up for the day with a drink of some description myself…

Troy says: I need to write. Got lots to say!

Hi everybody! I got a comment from Flame, whose one of my friends. Yesterday I didn’t reply back because Mum wouldn’t let me use the computer. She wanted me to rest up for the work I’ll be doing this afternoon. Mum appeared buggered as well so I didn’t pester her. Plus there were three bratty kids around. They always fight all the time! Geeze! Even we cute puppies don’t do that every five minutes! Ask Mum: she’ll tell you the same things. I’m not used to kids coming around and playing up all the time. Claire and Lawrie puppy raisers) didn’t even let me know that I’d have to put up with that! Oh well, so long as I get big rawhide bones to chew on for hours, it’s all sweet.

I did go out most of yesterday. I had a few nice bus rides! We went to Darwin which took forever to get there. We must have gotten on a bus at Palmerston? I never knew a bus could go all the way into the city like that! All I knew is that you had to go to Casuarina first. Anyway, that’s what happened. I loved it though. We waited at a bus stop and then came back home. Before this long bus ride we went to Wooleys and then after the ride we went back to wooleys and then to Shirley’s place after about half an hour or something. I don’t know what to think of her scooter. It’s always creating trouble. I mean, I get told to move all the time, and Mum and Shirley keep fighting over what I do and don’t understand. Just forget about that and teach me what you want please! Do you want me to lie down or move out of the way? How am I supposed to know to move if you don’t show me that not moving away from a moving scooter actually hurts! The few times that Shirley bumped into me, she said sorry and it’s ok, and all I thought then was that it doesn’t matter that I stay in her way. Well, what does she want from me? She never listens to Mum when it comes to this subject. I keep getting these evil vibes that one day she’ll get nasty, or that I won’t be allowed to go to Shirley’s anymore. I don’t like that. All because Shirley doesn’t know how to train dogs? Excuse me, I’m a guide dog and I need to stay well-trained for Mum, but Shirley isn’t helping me very well? Please, people? guide dogs? Service dogs? Their owners? I need to know what to do about this. Yes, I’m specificly asking all the dogs and their Mums or Dads out there for suggestions? How would you feel if one minute you were told to do something like, go to your room, then the next you were told to leave it alone? That’s basically how Shirley is making me feel about her scooter! I don’t know what to do. Mum does, but Shirley won’t listen to her. The other chair that Mum sits on isn’t a scooter, so as much as she’s being helpful, it’s not helping me with the problem of Shirley not training me, or allowing Mum to train me in a propper manner about that darn scooter when it’s moving. Being told to “move! Move! Out of the road! Out of the way!” sounds like bla bla bla! to me. I move, move out of the way to what? And then, yes, I move… but why and how? Whenever Mum says “move” or “out of the way” and a few others, she’s so consistent that I know what she means and now she doesn’t even have to tell me that stuff anymore! I’ve known Shirley for two years and she’s still very confusing to me. Sorry, I hate offending anyone. I’m simply writing how I feel. I did figure that that’s all right, because that’s why Mum made her blog isn’t it?

Troy’s turn to write

Hi people! It’s that cute and bubbly boobly Troy again! How’s the happy new year going? I hope everyone’s having a crazy time! If not then maybe you need me to come around and jump all over the joint and lick you to death! If you don’t like it, then get over yourself. Kidding! Sorry, but really had to joke – I did so much work today. I did heaps of work yesterday, so I guess that’s why I needed to cheer myself and you all up with a joke. Anyway, yesterday I went to a shopping centre and then Shirley’s place. I decided I wanted to Troy a chip and somebody told me off! Well, Mum didn’t notice so ha, she’s couldn’t correct me in time. hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hehehehehehehehehe! Whoever it was said that it was too late, and man I could feel that Old Stress bubbling it’s head again. But from what I hear about something to do with church, God, Jesus, something about a spirit thing? Gosh what do Mum and her friends talk about! Well, whatever these words are, they seem to be making an effect on her. I don’t know how because they mean nothing whatsoever to me. Mum never teaches them to me, or what they mean. Why? I get good feelings at church and I never know what these words mean so how am I supposed to understand those feelings that people call “Holy Spirit” and stuff like that? Maybe Jesus should tell me. But he never does! Maybe he thinks I’m not able to ever understand it. but whatever. I don’t care. All I want is my Mum and food, never mind God!Ooooops! Sorry Mum! Oh well, she doesn’t get what I’m thinking so shhhh don’t tell her that! I suppose that God, if there is one, must support me somehow, otherwise I wouldn’t have a Mum or a life! Wooof wooof Goooooooooooooooddddddddddd!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Back to what Iw as saying about Mum being affected by this stuff, basically I sense the stress happening, then some happy chappy feeling and bam! It’s all gone! Maybe it’s that churchy feeling? How can people feel churchy in the shopping centre? Or is that what they call God?

At Shirley’s place, I heard Mum talking about some program about bringing me back to basics. What! I’m a guide dog and don’t you dare forget that! But then I was relieved to find out that actually, Mum is bringing me back to basics, because I’m forgetting how to control myself! Oooooooops! I keep trying to greet people when they say hello to Mum, because I think that they are saying hello to me so I just try to interact with them until Mum stops and makes me stop it. I then get told to lie down and shush up. Maybe it’s because of all the times that people have made me feel it’s ok to talk to me while I’m working so I’ve forgotten that it’s not ok! And, Mum isn’t giving in anymore. Oh yeah I remember; she gave in because of the pressure people put on her, but now she doesn’t listen to them. Isn’t that what my trainers and her trainers have tried to tell her all along? It’s like these silly people don’t understand that I don’t remember what I’m supposed to do when they sidetrack me! And yet they think because I’m a guide dog and not a guide person, it doesn’t matter. Well, they’d be the first to cry about it if they were distracted, wouldn’t they? People have no respect in this world anymore. No wonder it’s so hard for Mum, although now she’s more protective of me and is very resolute in her responsibilities. It makes it easier for me. I do see that others don’t like it, but I don’t work for them, so I guess it’s ok not to have to look after them, and I’ve discovered that I actually like it that way! I’m not so confused about my job as a guide dog anymore. Thanks Mum!

Day 5

I was going to write about prayer, but felt better to write about tests and trials instead. There are a few Scriptures dealing with this subject. Actually, quite a lot of them if I were to be honest. They happen to us every day for most people. Like when I smashed my head the other day. It’s getting better now thank God! I know that people get caught up in stuff for a lot of reasons, but here are some Scriptures giving different reasons for why Christians like me get caught up in bad circumstances, and why this occurs. Oh, I’ll also list some Scriptures which remind us that God is there no matter what.

1 Thesalonians 3:1-4
So when we could stand it no longer, we thought it best to be left by ourselves in Athens. We sent Timothy, who is our brother and God’s fellow worker in spreading the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith, so that no one would be unsettled by these trials. You know quite well that we were destined for them. In fact, when we were with you, we kept telling you that we would be persecuted. And it turned out that way, as you well know.
2 Thesalonians 1:3-10: We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing. Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring. All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.
James 1:2-4: Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
Note: this doesn’t mean literally that it’s ok to hurt yourself, or to allow others to hurt yourself as though it were a good thing either! Don’t worry about that one, all this passage is trying to tell us is that if we do get hurt in any way, we should endure it patiently and not enjoy the pain, but enjoy the fact that we’ll get through it and if we’re Christians we’ll get to heave if we choose not to reject Jesus. If we happen to be non-Christians, then these circumstances can lead us to Christ. I hope I’ve cleared things up for whoever doesn’t understand the passage.

There’s a lot more to read about in the Bible; just read the Psalms and 1 and 2 Samuel. You’ll overload yourself with info on it!

I’ve decided to make sure I paste the text of the passages as well, because I think it’s easier that people read it right there rather than having to search for it. As for the other Bible verses not pasted in other entries, I’ll paste the text of them in when I reiterate on other subjects when I go over them during this forty day period.

You see, I never used to understand the idea of accepting that God was actually using things in my Christian life to strengthen my faith rather than to just batter me around and shoot me in the foot all the time. So here I was, believing a lie of the devil. I hate struggles, I hate it as much as any old religious or non-religious person would. It’s just that for me, I find that Jesus allows suffering sometimes for this reason:
John 15:1-8: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

Basically, I’ve found that God loves me so flipping much that he didn’t want to cut me off! He’d rather give me chance after chance to come back to him and fully commit myself to him rather than to let me go into hell. So this is why I’ve decided on a forty-day commitment plan to get myself back on track with God.

Tomorrow I’m going to write about prayer and God’s love. So I’ll list a few of like thousands of Scriptures dealing with that topic. Buckle your seat belts for this one guys! I’ve got a heck of a lot to write about, so you’ll all have to prepare a nice drink or snack…

Cheers and good night everyone!

Some good news about Troy… but there’s also bad news

Today my day went pretty well. It was raining quite heavily, but we went out anyway. You know how I said that Troy used to hate rain? If not, you know now lol! Anyway, Troy litterally wouldn’t budge if it was raining! It took ages to teach him that rain doesn’t hurt anyone, so it’s all right to work. Now he just works in almost any weather like a pro. I made sure I brought his little towel with me this time, and it was a good thing, because I had to dry the excess water off him before I got on the bus! I didn’t want to be banned for creating mayhem because of a wet dog. I got to hear the rain brushing over the windows and roof of the bus. I really love that sound!

I bought some lunch and then went to my friend’s place on another bus. But Troy decided to sneakily eat some chips off the floor while I was waiting for my order. As far as I know, he rarely does this. I think today he played up like that because I didn’t have the lead in my hand, so couldn’t correct him in time as usual. Oh well, next time hold leash in hand at all times! Yesterday I corrected him for scavenging, but he obviously didn’t get the message, because today he repeated it without me catching him until someone commented to me what he’d done. So much for trusting Troy around food. I shall never have faith in that area of his training, ever again.

My friend Shirley and I had a good time, drinking coffee and playing Scrabble. I also decided that I’d put restrictions on Troy too. He’s now in a super bad habit of getting up and being playful with almost anybody who talks to me, this being in harness! Someobdy actually spoke to me this morning, but Troy decided to say hello first expecting it was his conversation, not mine. um, hello? That’s what happens when people distracts him with interaction and talking to him all the time. So now I have to retrain him to be a guide dog and not a “service pet”. Since when did anyone think that working dog and pet dog mix? I mean, how can a dog in uniform work and pet at the same time? It just doesn’t work. So, I’m going back to square one.

At my guide dog school, I wasn’t allowed to play with Troy at all for one week. I wasn’t even allowed to let him play games on his own. He could walk around, he could lie or sit down. But there was no initiating play time, and there was absolutely no game of any description, with or without toys. And that was for seven days. Only basic bonding was allowed. Of course dogs need some attention, otherwise they’d get bored and that can be countereffective! So there needs to be a balance somewhere, otherwise the poor animal would feel isolated. And that would send anyone crazy. The other thing that had to be done was absolutely no initiation of any kind of attention from the dog. Yes, we could bond by petting the dog, but there was no accepting the dog initiating this first. Ever! This was enforced over the three week period and then the first week or two at home. This means if the dog is working, he wasn’t allowed to do anything unless instructed to do so. If Troy was lying down, he had to stay in that position until I asked him to stand up, and that included when getting ready to leave a table, getting off a bus etc. The dog couldn’t just decide to stand up just because he saw me picking up my backpack ready to go out of a shopping mall or anything. If he did this, he was immediately told to lie down, no questions asked. I wasn’t allowed to pet Troy all the time either. I could pet him, but if I petted every single time we were resting or he was resting in harness, he’d begin to expect it off others. So in a way, he had to be petted at certain times, like in the morning, during grooming or at night when I’m on my own and can pat him as long as I wish, because at least Troy would understand that the only time he gets a long pat is at night in my room, nowhere else would he get this privellege. So… even though it’ll be a little hard for me, I shall have to repeat this process, to undo all the crap that people have deliberately or unwittingly done to his training by petting him/other interactions while in harness. Um, I think I’ll have to also include no petting at all on leash, because I allow people to pet him quite often when only his leash is on, so now when I take the harness off, he takes this as “it’s petting time by others! Come and pet me everyone!” And he gets exciteable and tries to run himself off his leash to get greetings. Well, this needs to stop, because I don’t want my guide dog to run away if I’m loosely holding the leash just because he knows his harness is off and he thinks he can just run off to explore. Nope, the leash means he’s to stay with me and be calm, it doesn’t mean get as much attention as you want buddy! So, time to change our habits for three months. No jokes. If people don’t like it, then I don’t care because it’s my dog not theirs. They can’t just decide whether they should feel hurt over me saying no to them. I think that’s nasty, disrespectful and rude. It’s disgusting. Nobody has the right to take offence at anybody at all if the person(s) don’t want others touching their dogs. That would be like taking offence at you if I asked you if I could stroke your hair and you said no! Your hair might be your body, but excuse me, my dog is within my personal space, and he’s my responsibility and my posession. There’s no way in hell that anyone from Mars or Venis will exercise their human rights where they’ve got no business to.