0:00:00 - 0:00:27 So I just have a minute here between things and I'm actually foregoing a shower to make this video. So, um I hope you appreciate it more than people that are gonna have to smell me. Um I will shower later. I just have a phone call to make after this. But um, you know, I was sitting there thinking and 0:00:26 - 0:00:58 I got a chain of memories from recently. I was on a trip. I just got back last night for work and um change of venue can be good. Sometimes it gives us some space to think like airports, I mean airplanes, plane rides or car rides, they can be fruitful opportunities to think and different patterns than 0:00:58 - 0:01:23 we're used to unless some inconsiderate old lady bashing you with her seat. But uh thankfully that only happened for a minute because I have no problems chewing out an old lady. Anyway. Um So uh my thoughts went in in many different directions on many different things over the course of the six days 0:01:22 - 0:01:49 I was gone, but one of the thoughts I had was had this poignant, um I don't know, resurfacing of feelings about my dog that I had to put down recently and uh I started talking to the Lord about her and it's weird, you know, when you go through a lot of hard things in life, I should say, as you go through 0:01:49 - 0:02:26 more and more hard things in life, the what you feel it's meant to change in uh in how it is and how you process that pain, um hopefully becomes less self oriented, um more others oriented. That's the point. But um for me, in this case, you know, I was just reflect on how much I love this dog and how 0:02:25 - 0:02:57 unnecessary her death seemed to me. And um you know, anyway, there's a lot that I could say about this. But he, he uh he came and he, he taught me some things uh about other topics that I'm not going to share right now. And then the, the part of it that he shared with, uh he, he gave me that, that I 0:02:57 - 0:03:21 will share with you. Um So he said, um so, so I'm saying this and I'm sorry, this isn't processed. Well, I'm just trying to not forget the things that are supposed to be here. So I appreciate your, your patience with me here. Um All of this is an argument for you to read or reread the chapter called 0:03:21 - 0:03:40 Constraints and Consequences from a book I wrote called The Glory of God is Intelligence. If for some reason, you're on this video without having seen any of the others. My name's Rob Smith. Um So if you can search Amazon for that or there's a free PDF on the web at upward thought.blogspot.com. Um I 0:03:40 - 0:03:59 don't really encourage jumping to random chapters and the things that I've written. But um you'll, if you read that chapter, you'll find a lot of overlapping themes and maybe you'll find something helpful to you that's unique to your experience in doing so, constraints and consequences. And I say all 0:03:59 - 0:04:22 that in case, I don't remember to come back to it. So, um when we experience things that we don't like, we should definitely take that to the Lord all the time. And he'll um he'll teach us many, many times. He'll teach us and, and if he doesn't teach us, he'll open doors in our lives for the prerequisite 0:04:22 - 0:04:43 experiences and knowledge that we need in order for him to teach us. A lot of times people complain when they say well, I pray and, and nothing happens and it's like, well, let's look at the rest of your life. It's not like this isn't the driver, right? The driver, uh fast food theology. Um All quality 0:04:43 - 0:05:05 things in life. They take time and deliberation and effort and you shouldn't expect to interact with God in ways that are more convenient and straightforward than I don't know, like changing the oil on your car. So that's it. That's sort of like a minimal level of effort. And uh scaffolding that's required 0:05:05 - 0:05:24 . Um So if you think of all the engineering and manufacturing that go into making a car, it's, I mean, even though changing the oil is a piece of cake compared to all that, it, it's a, it's a very minor investment to get the benefits of someone else having done all the rest and that's how it is when 0:05:24 - 0:05:48 we interact with God. So being well practiced at this. Um I, I can have a conversation with the Lord anytime I want, which because it pulled the covers off, it is every time, not, not every time I want, but it's nonstop and that has its costs and benefits. But um anyway, so I was praying like I always 0:05:47 - 0:06:16 am and uh start to focus my mind on this dog and uh the part that I'll share with you, um you know, when it happened, I there's some clever saying that I can't remember about a man who has resolve and the means to do something like be careful with that kind of guy. And it's something we don't see very 0:06:15 - 0:06:41 often in today's modern age, unfortunately. Um But it turns out that it's not a good idea to mess with somebody that has resolve and a purpose in life and who feels things deeply and uh with reason. So, um because those are the kinds of people that end up overthrowing governments, right? That's the founding 0:06:40 - 0:07:06 fathers fit this bill and uh any three letter agencies that might be watching. I'm not making any threats here. That's not on my, to do list. Um, however, um, when, when, when my dog, uh, she didn't die, I killed her and I think it's important to say that I don't like when people say, oh, we put her 0:07:06 - 0:07:25 to sleep or we, you know, I also think people should do that themselves. I think it's important to not traumatize the animal. And I, I know a lot of people live in apartments or suburbs or places where the cops get called if there are gunshots. But, um, I think it's really important to, like, I think 0:07:25 - 0:07:47 it's important that even if you're not gonna grow all the animals that you eat, I think you should at least do that with some of them as you can. Uh, because it's very important to have the full circle of life, uh, that you participate in people that aren't willing to kill an animal shouldn't eat animals 0:07:46 - 0:08:11 . But it's a, it's a sacred responsibility if you're gonna do that anyway. Uh, so I think if you're gonna have an animal, you also need to be responsible for all aspects of, of keeping that animal anyway. I'm not alone in that. There are other people who feel that way strongly. But, uh, so my dog, um 0:08:10 - 0:08:34 , before I killed her, euthanized her that there was a reason, um, she got really sick because she got the rabies vaccine and she was dying, uh, probably from rabies. Although I, I can't, there's no way for me to confirm that scientifically. She had all the symptoms. And, um, anyway, so she was, she 0:08:34 - 0:09:00 was stopping breathing and I didn't, uh, want to just wait for hours of her suffering for that to happen. So I took care of it. But, uh, um, I was talking to the Lord about this because that, that's all relevant backstory. Uh I was ready to mount an offensive in writing to every single person in this 0:08:59 - 0:09:21 state who has any sway whatsoever to get the law repealed. That makes that um, it's, it's required for any veterinary service. You have to have a, a uh an up to date rabies vaccine and we were taking her to get spayed. Uh she had had a litter of puppies and they were all all gone and the, the time had 0:09:21 - 0:09:45 passed where that was a safe thing to do. So she wouldn't get pregnant again. And um we, we called around to all the vets and try to see if to try to see if any would do it without that shot and no wood. Um, they're all law-abiding vets need to rebel that some back alley. Um And uh anyway, uh we ended 0:09:45 - 0:10:06 up taking her and, and she got the shot and, and then she died. And uh so I was praying to the Lord and just saying like, you know, this is so unnecessary and why this law shouldn't exist because people should be able to choose. And, uh, the whole reason we did it is because, you know, we re researched 0:10:06 - 0:10:24 the pros and cons and we thought that the, the medical risks to her getting pregnant accidentally again, uh, this wasn't her first litter and none of them were accidents by the way. But, um, you know, this just goes into the safeguarding of your animals and you need to make sure you keep things so they 0:10:23 - 0:10:46 don't suffer more than they, they need to in life. And uh the all the, the negative consequences seem to be long term. Things like cancer at the injection site is a really common one for the rabies vaccine. Um So or temporary things and um we thought, well, cost benefit. Let's let's do this because nowhere 0:10:46 - 0:11:04 on the list is the dog gets rabies. In fact, I have not found any website that says that that's possible. I've seen many websites that say it's impossible. I would not know, I'm not a vet, I just know what I saw and I know our vet had no explanation for this and when I pressed her, she said she would 0:11:04 - 0:11:33 have to contact the vaccine manufacturer to see if it had ever happened. So uh yeah, like they're gonna tell you. So anyway, um so in taking this to the Lord and you know, being ready to go nuts on a campaign to get this law repealed. Um the Lord said, you know, he does if you've seen the matrix, the 0:11:33 - 0:11:54 first one, when he, he says I need guns and like the shelves of guns come flying by when I'm talking with the Lord, when he provides evidence for things, that's what it's like, it's like he queries everything and just brings out pages and pages and pages and pages of examples so that there's no way I 0:11:54 - 0:12:18 can say like, oh, that's not enough to believe you. So he flashed before my eyes, shelves and shelves and shelves of people to using the matrix reference there. Um Remember when Mitt Romney made the gaffe that he has binders full of people. I, I had shelves full of people. Um, that are just absolute 0:12:18 - 0:12:42 idiots, just morons and that's not hard to find. And God said all of these people have dogs. If the rabies vaccine weren't mandated, how often do you think dogs and humans would get rabies? And which is mostly, it's almost always lethal um, situation. I think there may be like one case they know of where 0:12:42 - 0:12:59 a person got better allegedly with dogs. It's something like 16% but they won't give you the opportunity. They'll just, they'll just kill your dog if they think it might have rabies. So anyway, the only thing that saved mine, this is a funny thing, I'm persuaded. I can't prove this. I'm persuaded if 0:12:58 - 0:13:16 I had taken my dog to the vet without her having had the shot just before they would have impounded the dog and killed her because they would have assumed she had rabies. She was foaming at the mouth. She was all locked up, crazy eyed. She, she had the paralysis kind, not the biting kind. So she wasn't 0:13:16 - 0:13:39 biting anybody. But, um, I'm convinced they would have impounded her and put her down. But, because she had the shot, it was this, um, this, this, uh, cognitive dissonance where the, the vet couldn't use her normal critical thinking process. She had to pretend like it was something else. Oh, man. Anyway 0:13:38 - 0:13:58 , um, it drives me nuts. It's super dishonest and I'm not faulting her. I feel bad for her. I don't know any vets that got into that for any other reason that they love animals. Um, if they were about the money, they probably would become a human doctor. Probably, uh, an oncologist. No offense but some 0:13:58 - 0:14:19 human doctor where you don't actually do any good and some specialty where you're not actually helping people. You just keep, get paid a lot. And there's a nonstop business anyway. Um, so he showed me shelves of stupid people and I said, yeah, there'd be a lot of suffering if this wasn't mandated. Normal 0:14:19 - 0:14:39 people are just too dumb to have that kind of responsibility and, uh, not just dumb, they're lazy. And, um, you know, I'm not talking about just a lack of intelligence but a lack of goodness combined. With a lack of intelligence. So, um, the only thing worse than that is a lack of goodness coupled with 0:14:39 - 0:15:10 an abundance of intelligence. And there are people like that in this world. So he said, well, if the choice were, were between your dog dying or all these other dogs getting rabies in neither case, would it be the dog's fault? I said, you're right. And he said, uh, isn't it better that one dog die? You 0:15:09 - 0:15:43 know, then all these other dogs. And I said, yeah, yeah, it is. He said, well, I said, but I just wish she had a longer life. And he said, what do you know about that? Mm. And he did another flashed before my eyes and I saw, you know, her, her short life was just full of joy. I'm not saying there was 0:15:43 - 0:16:20 never a time where she wasn't a little sad but, you know, she never knew sickness or like bad joints or loss. Really? It's just all gravy. One thing that, uh, that I noticed during the time is when she had puppies. Uh huh. It just made her so happy. It was like another level of happiness. She's loved 0:16:20 - 0:16:49 her puppies and uh, she loved me. She would, uh, do this weird thing where whenever she wanted snuggles, she would run from wherever she was in the house, she'd run full speed and just dive Superman, dive right into my side. That sounds painful. It wasn't, um, she's always really gentle with me, but 0:16:49 - 0:17:26 she would Superman dive into this like tight ball right in my side, uh or she'd come over and lay her head on my knee and just want me to pet her forever. And which I did. And uh anyway, so she had a very, very good life, happy life. And he said, would you really take that? And I said, no, no. So he 0:17:26 - 0:17:53 laid out the constraints and the consequences. And so I encourage you to read or reread that chapter because so much in life is like that where, you know, where we see suffering. It's, it's actually, it's, it's the best possible solution to a very complicated problem. And in the end, it's not just so 0:17:53 - 0:18:15 like sort of a consolation prize. It really is the best. There is no other way and so much of this stuff, it's just, it's, it's the way it is because it's the best way it could be. And instead of complaining to God about it, which I think you should do. Honestly, that's, I mean, don't hold on loosely 0:18:14 - 0:18:38 , right? But he already knows how you feel about it. Do you think you're gonna hide something from him? Just go to him in humility, just showing your nakedness, so to speak, how you really feel. Just tell him, let it all out. You probably won't get very far before you know, he corrects you. That's a 0:18:38 - 0:19:10 good thing because it always leads to something better. I'm always gonna miss my dog. This isn't the first time. Something like this has happened either with dogs or certainly not. Generally speaking that, you know, it's ever present, the darkness, it's ever present. But the meaning that overcomes it 0:19:10 - 0:19:32 , the darkness hits us whether we like it or not. The meaning. Doesn't you have to search for the meaning? You have to go to God for that. So I gotta go. But I just, I felt like I should share that. I, I don't know if it helps anybody but what, whatever pain, ok? You carry whatever sorrow you might be 0:19:31 - 0:19:58 in. The Lord has reasons for why it is how it is. And if it doesn't need to be that way, the best thing you can do is go to him so he can show you how to change it. And if, if this is the best way it could be, the best thing to do is to go to him so he can show you that. So that chapter constraints and 0:19:58 - 0:20:17 consequences, it's not the best written chapter in the world, that's for sure. I could do better if I rewrote it today. But I think it's good enough that hopefully you can get some value out of it. And if not, you can, you can use your brain and make it better in your mind as you read. But take care 0:20:17 - 0:20:17 .