Bad Dogs and NO

The other night I was running at midnight. Long and hard day at work, came home and fell asleep. Woke up around 12:00 and decided to lace up the jogging shoes and run my block four times (about 1.5 miles). Not normal but worked for me but not a charging dog one of my neighbors had let out of the house unleashed to do his business.

When I run, I often get into a zone of sorts where I am focusing on the run and not super attentive to all the details around me except for trucks and cars. Dogs, like Jacks-in-the-Boxes, often shock me back into the here and now by their barking, and occasional charge and attack mode. My neighbor's dog was in full speed ahead with jaws ready to pounce when I yelled NO at forcefully as I could.

The dog stopped in his tracks about 1 foot away, stunned. I proceeded to yell NO until he backed up and retreated. There was a nanosecond that seemed like eternity where I had to decide whether I was going to kick the dog is his face, stand my ground, or turn tail and run.

I decided not to kick it because I wanted to see if my verbal warning would be enough. It was a difficult call because I really didn't have a lot of time to wait and see what transpired before his teeth dug into my flesh. Running from a charging dog in most cases, is pretty stupid. As it was, my stand worked and the dog backed off.

I have been pondering how to respond to attacks recently. We are to bless those that curse us but does that mean that we don't stand up and say NO and warn others about their behavior? Jesus warned His listeners about Hell and made it clear that if people rejected His teaching--as the author of life--eternal doom awaited them. I think concise non-self-righteouus preaching about Hell is good for the soul. We should be terrified of offending God. I don't think it much of a coincidence that as Liberalism in the Church propagated a soft Universalism, our culture went astray. It has made the idea of grace anemic because we no longer grasp the danger of the disease.