I live outside of Estacada, OR. Near my kitchen there is a door that overlooks in a wild area that is only populated with young trees, blackberry bushes, and all kinds of other greeneries. On Tuesday night, before going to bed around midnight, I looked outside the window of that door to check if it was snowing when from within the bush I saw a light like those from a cell phone. “Someone is out there!” I thought. The light kept going on, then off; and off, and on again. I do watch TV crime shows and heard of several break-ins in the area. It was getting scary. I do have a BB gun on that porch and a conceal-carry license. I kept watching till I saw a big shadowy 4-legged thing moving in the bushes alongside a 2-legged one. I really was wondering…! It is then that as the two shadows came out of the bushes I saw that it was our neighbor taking her anatolian shepherd dog to relieve itself from the discomfort of an over-full bladder. The next morning I was texting her about the last night’s adventures, and this is how the conversation went: --You scared the heeby-jeebies out of me last night. --Haha, Shomer (that is the name of the anatolian shepherd) had to pee! --Especially when I saw a four-legged creature accompanied with a person in a ski-mask, I thought it might be a robber or that the FBI had finally caught up with me --Haha --I braced myself expecting to see assault weapons (you know with the news these days …) –-Then I saw that it was only you and Shomer guarding the place. She then said, --- I should be thankful you didn’t shoot me first! To which I replied, –- I learned to stop, look, and listen, before shooting! --Did you learn the hard way? --Yes but not with guns, thankfully, but with my mouth and actions. --Ah yes. Deep! It is a deep, but yes, a simple lesson. I was talking to a friend this week who was wondering if the devil was responsible for the bad things that happened to him. I told him that the devil doesn't have to hardly do anything to mess up our lives. We are entirely capable to do that by our own selves as we act irrationally, omitting to take the time to stop, look, and listen before we do and say things. I personally learned, (and am still learning sometimes) that it takes less long to take the time to stop, look, and listen before doing or saying something than to clean up the mess when we don’t!
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