Well, our new puppy has given us the opportunity to practice forgiveness. During his first night with us he was missing his mommy and all his brothers and sisters so he put up quite a fuss. Around 3 am Gwen and I heard the loud honking of a car horn. We wondered what the purpose of that was at that time of the morning. We didn't have to wait long until we found out. Right after the horn stopped honking our doorbell began ringing incessantly. I quickly unplugged the bell so as not to awaken everyone in the house and then I saw through the window that there was a man at our gate who was obviously very agitated. When I opened the door he began a tirade about how my dog was keeping him awake and how I was cruel (apparently he thought I was mistreating the dog). His mostly one-sided conversation was punctuated with obscene language and even a threat to me personally.
Well, obviously I was a bit shocked as that was my first experience of being the recipient of such curses, especially at three in the morning. I quietly shut the door and brought the puppy in near our bedroom where the rest of the night I tried to get a little rest between the times of keeping the dog quiet.
The next day (Sunday) on our way home from church I saw our neighbor was out in his yard, so I went to ask his forgiveness for keeping him awake in the night. Immediately he apologized for his language. I understand the man is a rather rough man, but I'm thankful for the opportunity to show God's love and forgiveness to him.
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