Forgive our Trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us

Acts 19 ³

If therefore Demetrius and the artisans with him have a complaint against anyone, the courts are open, and there are proconsuls; let them bring charges there against one another. ³⁹If there is anything further you want to know, it must be settled in the regular assembly. ⁴⁰For we are in danger of being charged with rioting today, since there is no cause that we can give to justify this commotion.” ⁴¹When he had said this, he dismissed the assembly.

1 Corinthians 6

6When any of you has a grievance against another, do you dare to take it to court before the unrighteous, instead of taking it before the saints? ²Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? ³Do you not know that we are to judge angels—to say nothing of ordinary matters? ⁴If you have ordinary cases, then, do you appoint as judges those who have no standing in the church? ⁵I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to decide between one believer and another, ⁶but a believer goes to court against a believer—and before unbelievers at that? ⁷In fact, to have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded? ⁸But you yourselves wrong and defraud—and believers at that.

Speaking of boundaries, while the kids were visiting us at the farm, we discovered that someone had come on to our property and cut down the brush along the fenceline leaving a large open space between the neighbor's property and ours.

I did not to want to get the kids or grandkids upset, so waited until last weekend to address the issue. The brush was cut about 5-10 feet into our property.

I took my John Deere Gator and a log chain, went to the orchard and retrieved some fallen branches, and dumped them along the fence line.  As I was working, it dawned on me that someone was shouting.  I looked up and saw a guy standing on the deck of the house across the way and waving his arms.  I put my hand to my ear in the classic "I can't hear you" position, and then I heard him shout "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!!" 

Of course I was not going to shout back, and if he was confrontational, I didn't want to be alone with him, so drove the Gator back to the garage to pick up my husband and show him what I had been doing.  As we drove up, we saw the neighbor driving his tractor away.  I showed Ed the results of my work, and he agreed that I was definitely on our side of the property line.  He was kind of surprised that I was mad enough to go to so much trouble.

I was still mad, so went back to the house, got the staple gun and the Tyvek No Trespassing signs, and went back and posted two of them. Since they (apparently) had cut down all the trees, the only place left to put the sign was on the pile of brush.

I drove to another field and circled it, trying to relax and inspect our hypothetical alfalfa crop.  When I came back to the field with the open cut-out, I saw a woman standing on her side of the brush pile with her hands on her hips in a very agressive posture.  I waved and drove the Gator over to talk to her. 

She immediately started on the offensive "Why didn't you come talk to us before you did this?" I told her I didn't know who had done it, and I sure wasn't going to accuse anyone. I asked her why she didn't talk to us before she cut down the brush? She said she didn't know who owned the property or how to reach us. I explained that those records are available in the township office, and all she had to do was look online.

 She said I was interfering with wildlife movement.  I disagreed, as there are plenty of holes along the fence line big enough for a deer to get through.  "Why'd you have to go and post this!" Well, obviously whoever cut down the trees needed to know that they had crossed a boundary they should not have crossed. It is NOT a public park.  We do not want trespassers on the property.  There are certain people that we know and trust that we have given permission, but other than that, we do NOT expect people to trespass.  "We don't trespass," she replied. I said I wasn't accusing her of trespassing, but I just wanted to be clear for the future.  We do not want the liability of someone hurting themselves on our property, when they are trespassing.

She mentioned that they had hired a landscaper who took it upon himself to cut down the brush.  I responded that whoever hires the landscaper is responsible for what he does under their supervision.  Then she backed off and said that the landscaper only had a garden tractor, not a brush hog,  she saw somebody else cut down the brush.

Her father came down the hill.  He must have seen us talking and wanted to take his daughter out of harm's way? I started explaining my position, and he offered that "I admit, I hired the landscaper, but he took it on himself to cut down the brush".  So daughter has established herself as a liar of the first order, and Dad didn't know she had changed the story on the fly.

During the course of the long conversation, she admitted she had shot a rabbit and taken the quad through our field to collect it.  She also talked about her guns and her expertise at deer hunting.  Her father mentioned that he often walks through the orchard.  I told them both that they DID NOT have permission to be on the property.  He said he understood the liability issue.  Then he started tattling on all the other neighbors that have trespassed in the past.

My conclusion is that there was no landscaper, and since Michigan now allows baiting of deer, she is trying to entice any deer on our property to come into her yard by giving them a big open space to go through.