Reflections 7/17/2020: God, this whole scam ordeal followed by an incredibly redemptive gift of little Roo has been puzzling to me. Someone who likes to challenge my tenacious trust in You, asked me a hard question. “Why would a good God put you through the scam in the first place? Why not just guide you to Roo from square one… and save you the angst and loss of money?” Hmmm…. how do I answer him? (And that nagging question in my own mind?) Not sure. Did I get ahead of Your guidance in my impulsive pursuit of a cute puppy named Sassy? Did I not heed warning signals of good common sense? Did I disobey any inner warnings You were whispering? Or perhaps you allow us, your children, to make mistakes, like anyone else in this sin-filled world… and stick close by to pick up the Humpty-Dumpty pieces? (Much more successfully than “all the king’s horses and all the King’s men!”) One REALLY GOOD thing that came out of this is how involved Ed got in the process of procuring a puppy for US… not just me! He got deeply invested in redeeming this hurtful act of the scam! AND blessed us with the cutest, most affectionate little guy on the face of the earth! Roo! A puppy HE loves too! That wouldn’t likely have been the case with Sassy… which felt a little forced on him. So do I keep this engraved dog tag as a reminder of Your redemptive love? Or toss it out to let go of the hurt? Not sure yet… so it will stick around a while.