Exercise – Sentinel2Sentinel

To the owners of nasty little yappy dogs

Out on a lovely morning walk with my Little Wall Ball, Charlie R., we were accosted by a nasty-little-yappy-dog who zipped out of seemingly nowhere on a short side street near my house. That sucker was rather aggressive so I had to stop and watch my back. It was relentless in charging toward me so much so that it was unsettling.

I have been nipped in the heels by a yappy-dog in this town before. The owner kept telling me to walk-on, the dog would be fine and not bother me. Oh she missed the fact her nasty-little-yappy-dog nipped my heels while she could not be bothered to watch, let alone tether her dog.

Finally with some lunging back at it and shooing it off it with waving arms, like a madwoman, it finally pranced off toward a yard down the road, yapping like a mad dog. Seriously it must have looked like some freak show version of Battle Bots.

Nasty, little, miserable, wretched dog with no owner in sight.

Continuing onward I headed toward the right side cul de sac on the sidewalk side of the street. Just as I was shaking off the fright and hitting my stride another nasty-little-yappy-dog came shooting out from a yard across the street.

Arghhhhh! My heart jumped again. And again, a nasty-little-yappy-dog with no owner in sight!

The aggressive nature of the dog forced me to watch my backside and I was sure annoyed with myself for not picking up a big stick from a tree that I had seen at the corner I had just come from.

I raised my voice saying, “What is wrong with all of these nasty-little-yappy-dogs today!” Finishing the thought with a yell, “Go Home! Sheesh!!!”

Working my way to the end of the first cul de sac, I then turned around to go back to the opposite end of the street where two more cul de sacs beckoned me to travel. Thank goodness, without incident.

Close to finishing my course, choosing to jog down the little hill I originally came up and having made it past the two initial nasty-little-yappy-dog encounters, I was feeling pretty good until ….. dun dun dun, that first nasty-little-yappy-dog comes running around the corner from my street, charging right toward me again!

Arghhhhh! My heart jumped. Nasty, little, miserable, wretched dog. Same previous stand off, wave off ritual.

So you pet owners who cannot constrain your animals, you can bet I will be carrying some sort of spray repellant and a BIG STICK with me next time!

Please! Take care of your dogs. Restrain them!

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Need a boost?

Yesterday was a bit of a let down even though I had a lot to be thankful for. Today was only a little better thanks to a posting by my Coach on the GOCF Facebook page about the SQUAT MAGIC.

“Master the king of exercises and give your bum a boost with Squat Magic!”

Yeah.

No.

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Faith is Freedom: Set your Sail

Today I heard a couple of testimonies followed by a really great sermon in Sacrament Meeting* by Eric Boswell based upon a talk given by James E. Faust, Where Do I Make My Stand, from which I quote:

Thomas Giles, a Welsh convert who joined the Church in 1844, also suffered much in his lifetime. He was a miner, and while he was digging coal in the mine, a large piece of coal hit him on the head and inflicted a wound nine inches long. The doctor who examined him said the injured man would not live longer than 24 hours. But then the elders came and administered to him. He was promised that he would get well, and that “even if he would never see again, he would live to do much good in the Church.” Brother Giles did indeed live but was blind the rest of his life. Within a month of his injury “he was out traveling through the country attending to his ecclesiastical duties.”

There is more to the Thomas Giles story that is absolutely amazing when you look at what he becomes in spite of his injury. He might have never accomplished great things had he not pressed forward, steadfastly, in faith.

Then in Primary the children were taught about the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel:

Later on today, when home from worship services, I flipped on BYUtv to watch or listen to some really lovely shows. My viewing began with a fantastic devotional talk titled “Lay Hold upon the Word”: The Power of Wholehearted Living by McKay Christensen. What an amazing journey through hope and faith has his life taken!

A follow on devotional talk by Mark B. Colton was excellent too: Never Give Up Your Testimony of the Gospel. He used a quote from a wonderful sermon by Jeffrey R. Holland but the quote I am posting next is not from the Colton talk but from the Holland sermon “I Believe.”

Honestly acknowledge your questions and your concerns, but first and forever fan the flame of your faith, because all things are possible to them that believe.

All of these talks and sermons confirmed my thinking about how the daily exercising of faith makes it possible for one to become free, unmoored from the muck and mire of the things that bog one down mentally, emotionally and or physically. But faith goes back to the FIRST principles of the Gospel. Faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ. Faith unto Repentance, returning time and time again to Let Go and Let God set one’s sail.

Then the last show I watched was an episode from The Kindness Diaries. And as that show closed out my evening, I hear the same music playing over and over in my head. It is the same song I have been hearing for the last two or three weeks as I continue exercising my faith to let go and let God set my sail:

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