If you’ve visited us here during the last year I’m sure you remember Manchas (Spot, or more accurately, Stain!), a street dog who basically adopted our church. He would faithfully follow us around, and miraculously appear at multiple church members’ homes and all church activities. Brigam, our other church mascot, spoiled him rotten during his time here from Jan. to June, buying him tacos and generally taking care of him. Manchas, a stinky, scrappy street dog, must have thought he died and went to heaven.
Mayra and my kids wanted to adopt Manchas and domesticate him, so eventually Mayra brought him a dog house, and David Gomez agreed to keep him tied in front of his house.
Over the last two days, though, Manchas was sick, and finally died last night. We suspect he may have been poisoned by some neighbors. Crystal, Andres and I went and buried him last night. My kids, especially Cathy, were very upset last night. I’m sure Manchas…is in a better place…maybe we’ll see him in heaven…I don’t know, what do you say?? In Manchas’ case, though, we just might see him in heaven. He was our church’s guardian mascot (albeit disgusting many times!).
In other news, we continue to have car problems. We basically have not had a car all this week, our van suffering from multiple ailments, including an alternator that works when it wants to (after being “fixed” a couple of weeks ago) and potentially a brake problem (although the electrical issue seems to be more severe). After church on Sunday we smelled a really strong smell and it turned out the battery was extremely hot, indicating a short somewhere. I won’t bore with details…but we continue to try to determine what’s up with the Astro.
Quote of the Day:
God is not a cruel slave driver or a bully who uses brute force to coerce us into submission. He doesn’t try to break our will, but woos us to himself so that we might offer ourselves freely to him. God is a lover and a liberator and surrendering to him brings freedom, not bondage. When we completely surrender ourselves to Jesus, we discover that he is not a tyrant, but a savior; not a boss but a brother, not a dictator, but a friend. Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life, p.79
Can’t say I ever heard that old joke, Alan, you need to tell it to me sometime…or was that it..?