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Solve the following problem using Python, implementing the functions described below, one line at a time
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Description:
 def parse_status(status_log, encoding='utf-8'):
 """Parses the status log of OpenVPN. :param status_log: The content of status log. :type status_log: :class:`str` :param encoding: Optional. The encoding of status log. :type encoding: :class:`str` :return: The instance of :class:`.models.Status` """

    if isinstance(status_log, bytes):
        status_log = status_log.decode(encoding)
    parser = LogParser.fromstring(status_log)
    return parser.parse()