5. Again?!
In the eleventh grade at a Christian high school, it was easy to feel secure and loved. Of course, not everyone I knew liked me but I was okay with that. After all, I didn't like everyone I knew either. My particular group of friends had experienced some personal losses during the previous years and we were united in our quest for the Lord. Our friend lost her father to lung cancer, we all lost a friend in a car accident and I had nearly been killed myself. These things did not pass by us lightly and we really tried to tune our hearts into God's Word.
After the holiday break and during a particularly wintery weekend in January 1992, I was babysitting the little boy next door. He was still a toddler and he is the primary reason that whenever I have children, I'd like to have a boy first. That precious boy was fun, silly and cute all in one little package. After we had been playing hard all morning, his parents were coming home from work. So, I colored and played with him then prepared his little lunch for him. When his mommy came home and paid me, I left and I was happy as a clam while I was trudging through the snow, across a few acres to go back home. Why on earth I decided to go through the front yard between houses when I was so afraid of that area is still beyond me. But I did.
Now, I've always been an avid reader all my life. In fact, to toot my own horn a little bit here, I was always light years ahead of my peers’ reading level and teachers would often invent curriculum for me. I absolutely adore reading. I have no idea what I was reading on this particular snowy Saturday but it was good enough to be reading while walking home. As I passed the huge pine tree that our neighbor narrowly missed after he hit me with his car, I heard the maniac dog from across the street barking his head off. I paid no attention to it until I realized the noise was sounding particularly vicious and was coming toward me very, very quickly. I looked up and to my extreme surprise and sheer terror, I saw Junior bounding my way. Junior was a 165-pound German Shepherd mix of a dog, the progeny of his father and sister-mother dogs. Yuck. Not very bright but very violent. He had already bitten other runners on this road and was supposed to be on a leash or chain.
Except on that day, Junior was not tied up at all. Instead he was making a ferocious bee-line for me. I didn't have time to turn or scream or anything as I stood stock still in front of our living room windows in the front yard. Although I was shaking badly, adrenaline was pumping through my system overtime as I shouted "Junior, stop in Jesus' Name"! Seconds were flying by and the moment I spoke Jesus' name, Junior lunged at my throat. I screamed as I threw my arms up over my face while he knocked me down on my back in the snow.
My mother says she watched all of this in split seconds through the living room windows as she was taking down Christmas decorations. April was there too and heard all the commotion. Mom turned to run and save me but tripped over a box and nearly knocked herself out on the entertainment center. That left my 14 year old sister wondering who she should save first, me or my mom. Poor thing. Mom squeaked out, "go get Angel" and April went running for the back door.
Meanwhile Junior was not ripping me to shreds like I'm sure he had hoped. I have never in my life, before or since, moved so fast. The minute he had me in the snow on my back, he wrapped his jaws around my left bicep. But, it was a mighty cold day and so I had on a thermal t-shirt, a sweater and a huge down-filled coat. He couldn't get a grasp of me as I kept wiggling around underneath him. I never stopped moving, not once. I also believe I never stopped screaming at the very top of my lungs. Experts say to "remain calm and don't scream or run". Well, clearly they've not been attacked by a nut-case of a dog. Anyway, I flipped over onto my belly, curled up into a ball and placing my feet under me sprung up into a running stance. I slipped on the snow though and Junior bit me. He bit me in my hiney. Not a very convenient place to be bitten I suppose but definitely one with the most padding and least amount of injury. I was also wearing three layers and he bit my jeans pocket. So, he never even broke through any material let alone my skin.
I began to go a little crazy I think because at that point I started running in a tight circle, around and around and around. Still screaming. What on earth was I thinking, I have no idea but it seemed the thing to do at the time. Finally, I gathered my wits about me and stopped. I stomped at him and said again, "in Jesus' Name I said Go Away!" Believe me or not, but I saw this with my own eyes. Junior stopped barking and jumping, looked at me for a second and turned around, loping back across the street to his own yard. I was so mad at this point I was seeing red and could only envision finding some sort of weapon inside the house and then chasing Junior around the yard with it. My sister met me at the door as my uncle came around the back corner of the house with a baseball bat. Living next door to family is beneficial but only if they can get to you in time to save you. Still, he helped my dad who called the police and animal control and took care of the details.
By that time, Mom had revived herself enough to pile me into the car for a trip to the very same ER that had treated me the previous year. How embarrassing to say, "I'm here because I was attacked and bitten by a dog" and have them look at me and raise their eyebrows because they couldn't see any blood or anything. Although I'm ever grateful I wasn't maimed or seriously injured, to be 16 years old and have to show your bruised rear-end to a male nurse is more than humiliating to say the least. Nevertheless, we filed all necessary reports and got out of there, once again in awe of God's protection. You see, my parents prayed with us every single morning before we got our day started. They prayed specific Scriptures about safety, health, protection, wisdom, guidance and favor. We were under the shadow of the Almighty wherever we went. What a fantastic testimony!
In the eleventh grade at a Christian high school, it was easy to feel secure and loved. Of course, not everyone I knew liked me but I was okay with that. After all, I didn't like everyone I knew either. My particular group of friends had experienced some personal losses during the previous years and we were united in our quest for the Lord. Our friend lost her father to lung cancer, we all lost a friend in a car accident and I had nearly been killed myself. These things did not pass by us lightly and we really tried to tune our hearts into God's Word.
After the holiday break and during a particularly wintery weekend in January 1992, I was babysitting the little boy next door. He was still a toddler and he is the primary reason that whenever I have children, I'd like to have a boy first. That precious boy was fun, silly and cute all in one little package. After we had been playing hard all morning, his parents were coming home from work. So, I colored and played with him then prepared his little lunch for him. When his mommy came home and paid me, I left and I was happy as a clam while I was trudging through the snow, across a few acres to go back home. Why on earth I decided to go through the front yard between houses when I was so afraid of that area is still beyond me. But I did.
Now, I've always been an avid reader all my life. In fact, to toot my own horn a little bit here, I was always light years ahead of my peers’ reading level and teachers would often invent curriculum for me. I absolutely adore reading. I have no idea what I was reading on this particular snowy Saturday but it was good enough to be reading while walking home. As I passed the huge pine tree that our neighbor narrowly missed after he hit me with his car, I heard the maniac dog from across the street barking his head off. I paid no attention to it until I realized the noise was sounding particularly vicious and was coming toward me very, very quickly. I looked up and to my extreme surprise and sheer terror, I saw Junior bounding my way. Junior was a 165-pound German Shepherd mix of a dog, the progeny of his father and sister-mother dogs. Yuck. Not very bright but very violent. He had already bitten other runners on this road and was supposed to be on a leash or chain.
Except on that day, Junior was not tied up at all. Instead he was making a ferocious bee-line for me. I didn't have time to turn or scream or anything as I stood stock still in front of our living room windows in the front yard. Although I was shaking badly, adrenaline was pumping through my system overtime as I shouted "Junior, stop in Jesus' Name"! Seconds were flying by and the moment I spoke Jesus' name, Junior lunged at my throat. I screamed as I threw my arms up over my face while he knocked me down on my back in the snow.
My mother says she watched all of this in split seconds through the living room windows as she was taking down Christmas decorations. April was there too and heard all the commotion. Mom turned to run and save me but tripped over a box and nearly knocked herself out on the entertainment center. That left my 14 year old sister wondering who she should save first, me or my mom. Poor thing. Mom squeaked out, "go get Angel" and April went running for the back door.
Meanwhile Junior was not ripping me to shreds like I'm sure he had hoped. I have never in my life, before or since, moved so fast. The minute he had me in the snow on my back, he wrapped his jaws around my left bicep. But, it was a mighty cold day and so I had on a thermal t-shirt, a sweater and a huge down-filled coat. He couldn't get a grasp of me as I kept wiggling around underneath him. I never stopped moving, not once. I also believe I never stopped screaming at the very top of my lungs. Experts say to "remain calm and don't scream or run". Well, clearly they've not been attacked by a nut-case of a dog. Anyway, I flipped over onto my belly, curled up into a ball and placing my feet under me sprung up into a running stance. I slipped on the snow though and Junior bit me. He bit me in my hiney. Not a very convenient place to be bitten I suppose but definitely one with the most padding and least amount of injury. I was also wearing three layers and he bit my jeans pocket. So, he never even broke through any material let alone my skin.
I began to go a little crazy I think because at that point I started running in a tight circle, around and around and around. Still screaming. What on earth was I thinking, I have no idea but it seemed the thing to do at the time. Finally, I gathered my wits about me and stopped. I stomped at him and said again, "in Jesus' Name I said Go Away!" Believe me or not, but I saw this with my own eyes. Junior stopped barking and jumping, looked at me for a second and turned around, loping back across the street to his own yard. I was so mad at this point I was seeing red and could only envision finding some sort of weapon inside the house and then chasing Junior around the yard with it. My sister met me at the door as my uncle came around the back corner of the house with a baseball bat. Living next door to family is beneficial but only if they can get to you in time to save you. Still, he helped my dad who called the police and animal control and took care of the details.
By that time, Mom had revived herself enough to pile me into the car for a trip to the very same ER that had treated me the previous year. How embarrassing to say, "I'm here because I was attacked and bitten by a dog" and have them look at me and raise their eyebrows because they couldn't see any blood or anything. Although I'm ever grateful I wasn't maimed or seriously injured, to be 16 years old and have to show your bruised rear-end to a male nurse is more than humiliating to say the least. Nevertheless, we filed all necessary reports and got out of there, once again in awe of God's protection. You see, my parents prayed with us every single morning before we got our day started. They prayed specific Scriptures about safety, health, protection, wisdom, guidance and favor. We were under the shadow of the Almighty wherever we went. What a fantastic testimony!
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