DFO 1700 11/83

1. I WAS STARTING TO MURMUR & COMPLAIN ABOUT THAT BARKING LIZARD, & IT HASN'T BOTHERED ME EVER SINCE! I never had such an idea before. It just struck me, you know how those funny things happen: "He's your watchdog!" Now that's the last thing I would have ever thought about, but did it ever occur to you maybe he is? He sort of barks like that if there's any disturbance & somebody's around. When he hears noises or when he hears us stirring around or animals, maybe cats or whatever.

2. AT LEAST IT MADE ME FEEL A LOT BETTER ABOUT HIM if he was out there barking at things & being of some kind of use & serving some kind of purpose, not barking at me! It made me feel better about it. I have a good feeling about him now. (Maria: I noticed lately that even in your sleep it hasn't disturbed you at all. I noticed you were sleeping through it a lot more than you had been before.)

3. MAYBE HE SORT OF ACTS LIKE A WATCHDOG! It's a pretty good-sized thing & makes such a big noise. He was pretty big when we saw him last time. I think if that lizard came charging at me I'd sure be scared, so maybe he makes a pretty good watchdog! Maybe he scares off other pests, rats & roaches too! Maybe if he's disturbed he makes that noise, & you'd think a robber or a thief would be a little bit worried about causing any disturbance or any sound. In other words, if they stirred him up & got him to doing that, a thief would be afraid that the noise was going to attract attention‚ just like a dog barking.

4. IT'S TOO BAD WE DON'T KNOW MORE ABOUT THESE THINGS! Here we live with this thing & we don't know anything about it. Why does he adopt us? How come he doesn't live over there or over there? Sort of like that big black cat we had in London—we didn't adopt him‚ he just adopted us! We don't know where he came from & finally we didn't even know where he went. He disappeared just before we left, remember?—Almost like he knew we were going.

5. I'M GOING TO CALL THAT HIS BARK FROM NOW ON, I DON'T KNOW HOW ELSE TO DESCRIBE IT! TYL! At least it made me feel better. It was the night before last when I was so angry with him I almost felt like it was the Devil laughing at us. So I don't know whether it's just the Lord trying to give me a little psychological treatment so I wouldn't worry about it or if he really acts like a watchdog, I don't know, but at least I've been happy ever since & it hasn't bothered me since. So PTL!

6. HE DOESN'T BARK NEAR AS BAD OR AS MUCH AS A DOG & WE DON'T HAVE TO FEED HIM OR TAKE CARE OF HIM, HE SEEMS QUITE CAPABLE OF TAKING CARE OF HIMSELF! (Maria: As big as he is, he must get some pretty big things to eat! So maybe he does eat a lot of roaches & who knows what else!) He was big & fat‚ the last time we saw him his body was almost as big around as my arm & his legs were as big as my fingers.

7. HE SURE IS UGLY AS SIN, ENOUGH TO SCARE ANYBODY‚ SO IF HIS BITE IS AS BAD AS HIS BARK‚ HE OUGHT TO MAKE A GOOD WATCHDOG! Who knows‚ maybe he is! Maybe these natives are afraid of him. It sure is a weird sound in the middle of the night. But isn't it funny? I cheered up & I've been happy about his barking ever since. Maybe it's the power of wishful thinking, but whoever said it, it sure did the trick: "He's your watchdog!"

8. AND WHY DID HE ADOPT US? Why did he decide to live here in our yard? He even lives in our house part of the time, at least he lives in the outside parts. He could just as easily have decided to live over at the neighbour's. So why me? Must be a reason & maybe that's it!—At least that certainly comforted me ever since.

9. IT'S NICE TO KNOW THAT SOMEBODY'S OUT THERE & ON THE LOOKOUT! Apparently he stays up all night. We hear him often through the night, but we seldom ever hear him in the daytime, do we? So he must sleep in the daytime like a dog & prowl around out there at night. So I've felt good about him ever since. I'm sure if he were disturbed by anything out there, it probably causes him to do that barking. His noise is kind of a cross between the noise of a frog & a dog barking, & it sure is loud, enough to scare anybody! I think it sure would scare me if I were out there. Imagine having that thing bark like that right in your ear if you didn't know he was there!

10. SO I'VE JUST ACCEPTED IT AS THAT EVER SINCE, THAT HE'S OUT THERE AS OUR WATCHDOG, & I'VE BEEN THANKING THE LORD FOR HIM INSTEAD OF CURSING HIM! The Lord has turned cursing to blessing, so I've been blessing him ever since & he hasn't sounded near as much like he was laughing at me any more. So praise the Lord! "All things work together for good to them that love the Lord" (Rom.8:28), even if it's just my imagination!

11. WHERE ELSE WOULD I HAVE GOTTEN SUCH A THING? I NEVER THOUGHT ABOUT THAT BEFORE! I hated him! I was praying about him & cursing away, actually praying that the Lord would get rid of him. And that was the funniest kind of an answer to get, like why would I want to get rid of him?—He's my watchdog! The words that came to me specifically were: "He's your watchdog!" So PTL!

12. I'M SATISFIED & I DON'T CUSS HIM ANY MORE! In fact, every time he barks out there, I thank the Lord for him that somebody's awake & watching, somebody's out there with an eye on things‚ apparently somebody that can even see in the dark! And he can sure do things dogs can't do! Who ever saw a dog sitting on the side of a wall? He could probably prowl across the ceiling. I think that's why he's so loud sometimes‚ I think he's up inside our ceiling.

13. ANYHOW, NOW I'M THANKING THE LORD FOR HIM INSTEAD OF CUSSING HIM! So thank the Lord, the Lord's turned cursing into blessing & the psychological effect on me is certainly much more positive. PTL! Now I count him as a friend instead of an enemy.—So why not try a positive attitude toward "pests"?—Maybe they're your friends in some way. I never liked frogs, really, till I got the "Hallelujah Chorus!" (ML No.1586). Now I realise they're our friends & eat their weight in mosquitoes & roaches! GB'M! How about yours!