One home had dozens of pictures of the dog on shelves and flat spaces, and they had one photo of their son. The kid came home from school later, and I wondered if the boy really believed his parents loved him more than the dog. Matter of fact, they may indeed have loved the dog more than the boy.
I have heard of people who give their lives to saving dogs from being put down. They adopt them, and then they run here and there trying to pawn them off on other people. Keeping them all in their own home, above a certain number, is against the law in most places. I cannot think of a more useless life than to rescue dogs that are not wanted.
There was a lady in a church I pastored in California who had a second home in town. In that home she fed and "boarded" dozens of stray cats which had no one to care for them. The blasted cats needed to all be killed. The life they lived in that house was in no way doing them a favor. But, the lady had some deep compelling force in her, possibly demonic, which drove her to keep caring for the cats.
So, what would you think of a professional artist who has decided to give the rest of his life to painting dogs which have had to be euthanized? The following is title "An Act of Dog," which is clearly a take off on the words, "An Act of God." Aside from the blasphemy associated with the man's art work, I have to tell you that this is the biggest waste of a life I have ever seen.
An Act of Dog
5,500 - that's the average number of "shelter" dogs killed every day in the United States; about one every 15-16 seconds. But one artist is hoping to change these statistics by cultivating a new generation built on compassion. Mark Barone and his partner, Marina Dervan, have given up everything else to paint 5,500 portraits of euthanized dogs in order to memorialize their lives, illustrate the enormity of the loss each day, and to bring about a no-kill solution for all shelter animals. "A camera cannot give an image soul, but an artist can." By looking at these images, Barone and Dervan hope that people will cultivate compassion not only for the animals, but for each other.
Deuteronomy 23:18 Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, into the house of the LORD thy God for any vow: for even both these are abomination unto the LORD thy God.
Proverbs 26:11 As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.
2 Peter 2:21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
22 But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.
Roxie is the name of our American Bull/Bull Mastiff mix dog. She is very good about chasing critters off of the property, and she has a fierce hate for strangers we have not welcomed onto the property. She learned to tell the difference herself.
She also has a weird hate for vultures, and when the shadow of a vulture sweeps across the yard, she goes crazy barking at them in the sky. I think she has heard me call them Democrats, and this caused her to take umbrage at them.
Roxie has a bad habit. She, like one of our former US Presidents, is a crotch sniffer, and she has gotten some swift kicks for trying this. She is pretty much cured by now though. When Roxie gets to be old and physically troubled, she will be euthanized. It is wicked to cling to a crippled blind animal out of sick misplaced emotions. Animals have no soul, and when they die, they go back to dust. Roxie also has no Medicare plan. If she gets sick enough to need an operation, her life will be terminated. You Liberals should approve of that.
So, if you come by our place in Texas, Roxie will rush to the gate and rage and roar at you until I come and open the gate. Once I let you inside, Roxie will totally change, and she will nag you weary trying to get you to scratch her ears. Indeed, if you are a Democrat, and if I invite you onto the property, Roxie might even like you. Roxie is an equal opportunity dog.
Now, if you, like the proverbial hireling, come in another way, Roxie will help you back out and rip a fat quarter from the seat of your pants which she will use in a patch quilt she is making. And, what the bull dog don't get the Colt will.
