Answers to Prayers

 I don't know whose prayers the Lord was trying to answer in this fiasco, but I think he's done a fine job.

My beautiful, extra friendly, big, yellow lab ran a-fowl (yes, pun intended) of the law by chasing our neighbor's free-range chickens. 

The prophet said to forgive somebody by Easter, so I brought flowers and an "I'm sorry my dogs are such turds" note to our neighbors, hoping to forgive them and open communications between us. 

Their response suggested to me that Indy would be on their mud list no matter what. After some pondering and prayer, I was prompted to rehome him and even told who I should contact about it. The logic was there is no better alibi than being a state away. And then if he is the problem, the problem would be solved and if he wasn't the problem, he couldn't be credibly accused of the crime.

So this friend agreed to take my beautiful dog and add him to her pile of fur babies. We would do the long drive and drop on Saturday. Then today she actually called me (instead of texts we were exchanging) saying that her ex-boyfriend, just a county away, really wanted Indy, and wanted to meet him tonight.

It turns out he is a hunter and camper and had a great hunting dog (and daily companion) that passed away a few years ago, leaving him lonely for that kind of companionship.

He came right out, played with dog, started training him, and loved him right away. He was so excited when we allowed him to take Indy home tonight. Indy so needs that kind of work to do. He trains well and loves to be a companion. The guy was so excited he was hugging us and crying. 

Then, of course, he sent me texts showing the new dog bed in his room where Indy will sleep. I have never met someone so in need of a dog before.

The series of strings pulled and networks employed to pull this off is pretty impressive. The Lord care about this man so much he made a way to get him the dog he needs. May they honor and sustain each other.

We, of course, will always love Indy, and thank him for the light and slimy balls he always dropped on our laps.

Environmental Catrostrophy, Failed States & Forging A new Nation

 When you consider the plagues of Egypt, many of them could logically be tied to volcanic activity:

Red algae bloom from added warmth & nutrients in the Nile. The algae bloom drives out the frogs, dead frogs are perfect breeding grounds for lice & flies. Fire and hail also sound like the results of volcanic activity. 

The locus, just happens to add to the fun fest, boils & death could be volcanic gasses, results of flea bites, ect.

This regional environmental catropohy, and the most powerful nation in the land (that has maintained power by slave labor, and who instead of hearing their crys, assigns heavier workloads to them). Responds in a way that depletes his nation of all their cattle, crops and their army.

Other signs of environmental cataclysm include the mass mortality event of the quail, the parting of the red sea (can't account for how that was done yet, but I"m sure it had environmental and economic ripples) the war with the Ammonites (they too had just lost everything and were trying to fight or flee as a way to deal with their environmental upheaval.

The Lord used all this to not only set his covenant people free, but then to teach them and forge a new nation.

They had to learn to rely and trust him. He taught them through daily administration of the manna. That he is the bread of life. He taught them through healing the water that he is the living water. He built a generation to believe in him, after their 20 generations or so of bondage.

Is he using our current environmental and economic catrasphies to build and teach his covenant people today?