What I learned from a dog...

Me eyes...	... are ever fixed on You

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Posted by: Joyous_Cow Original: 10/13/2007 1:34 AM Views: 41 Comments: 2 eProps: 4 Read Comments Post a Comment Back to Your Xanga Site

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Saturday, October 13, 2007

   I am repeatedly surprised at the places I end up in these days: Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Nashville, Montreal, and, most recently, Boone, North Carolina. These cities are all as utterly foreign to me as my hometown is to the average American, and I'm finding that each place I've been to has contained a unique lesson, or attitude, or mindset that I may absorb while there.
   Tonight, we had dinner with some of Josh's extended family. Shrimp boil and barbecued ribs. It was a feast. It was heavenly. I had to lie down. Also there was one of the neighbours and her dog Elsa - a very shy and skittish German shepherd that she'd taken in as a stray a few years before. After the meal was over, I called her over to me and let her sniff my hand before I started petting her. She sat down next to me and whenever I stopped, she'd paw at me until I gave her some attention again. Her owner, Vicky, was surprised and said that Elsa doesn't let anybody pet her unless Vicky's specifically told her they're an "ok person." And she said that Elsa only likes people with good hearts, and gentle hearts, and I must have one.
   I was a little struck by this because if that is any kind of indicator, I've actually always been good at getting normally shy animals (and even people, I guess) to trust me. But at the same time, I don't think that the last two years or so at Penn have been making me more into a person with a good and gentle heart. I feel like I've gotten harder and sharper, less trusting and less trustworthy, less concerned with being gentle and more concerned with experiencing intensity. So as I sat there scratching Elsa behind the ears, I was very deeply touched by her innocent trust and felt a little unworthy.
   It only occurs to me now that I really truly want to be someone with a good and gentle heart. I don't want to be the logical extension of many of the changes that are happening in me. So this means that something needs to change, a shift needs to take place in my heart, and this means I need to talk to God while I'm here in Boone, North Carolina.

Posted 10/13/2007 1:34 AM - 41 Views - 4 eProps - 2 comments

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Oh Z-Ferris, holla when you get back in Philly, I wanna hang out or something! Also, when did you go to Nashville? What did you think of Nashvegas? That's only about 45 minutes from where I grew up so I consider Nashville International my airport.

Posted 10/14/2007 8:14 AM by J_Yo116 - reply

hey Zach!!! how are things with you? My background growing up was anything but soft, and I had a lot of opportunities for my heart to become super hard... but I believe that God protected it. I've seen the ugliness that this world has... but I refuse to allow it to drown out the light of Jesus. I am very glad that you got such an incredible lesson while you were on your trip. We should def hang out in philly sometime very soon. I am just in Glenside, a twenty minute train ride away.

babs