This and That

The Big Kahuna in our home turned 51 today... I made his favorite dessert and cooked a delicious meal. We went out Saturday night to celebrate.


I've been contemplating on the passage in Ecclesiastes on a time for everything - chapter 3, verses 1-8:

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:

a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,

a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,

a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,

a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

Now reread the same passage thinking of situations in your life where you have scattered or gathered, loved or hated, been silent or spoken. Or think of a time when someone knew when it was time to give you an embrace or time to refrain. I've been contemplating on this for awhile.

We are still missing our Shorty although the burden is easing. He was in so much pain that it is somewhat of a relief knowing he doesn't have to endure that any longer. His cremated remains are sitting on our mantle for a time. We aren't currently searching for another pet. I want to honor his memory for awhile, and I think I'll know when we're ready again... but I still look at the classifieds and pet photos regularly.

There is a good article for ministers by Gordan MacDonald on knowing when it is the right time to leave a church and seek a new position. Having seen some good separations, and some not-so-good separations, I thought this was well presented. Although written for ministers and their churches, it has application for the secular job world as well. You can find the article at this address: http://www.ctlibrary.com/le/2002/summer/4.36.html.

Have a blessed day!

A Time for Everything

Shorty
May 16, 1994 - September 12, 2006

aka Short-stuff, Bubba, Buddy, Baby, Pumpkin-Pie

A wonderful dog and a part of our family.
Faithfully waited by the door every day for us to return home.
Loved going on walks until he couldn’t walk anymore.

Favorites

Hide and Seek Hold him still, count to 10, let Amy run and hide, and Shorty would come find her, and was tenacious in his pursuit.

Playing Ball (learned at the age of 8—proof that you can teach an old dog new tricks!)

His ‘babies’ that he never ‘killed’ but sometimes wounded, by ripping out the squeakers.

Kong (hunting cookies, what could be more fun?! Thanks, Allison!)

Sleeping on his back with his feet in the air; or, sleeping with his feet on the wall.

Attacking the ironing board… serious fun with loss of all rational control

Barking whenever the phone rang… certainly proving Pavlov's theory. As a herding dog, Shorty would chase and ‘herd’ any family member when they ran. When the girls were young, they would run to answer the phone when it rang. Soon, the phone ringing became cause for barking, which prompted feeding to quiet him, which prompted more barking, and so on...

Eating - carrots, cucumbers, Cheerios, dog cookies, plums, apples, toast, rice, chicken, anything we ate, and his dog food

Shorty came to live with us in 1995 when Amy, at the age of 9, decided she wanted a pure-bred dog. She asked, "If I save all my money from Christmas, my birthdays, my allowance, whenever I have money, could I buy a Welsh Corgi?" Thinking that there was no way she would save the amount of money required for this breed, we said "Yes, if you save all your money, you can use it to buy a dog."

Amy started looking through the classified section of the newspaper, and found an ad for someone who wanted to sell a Corgi for $100. We went to look at the dog, whose name was Winston. He was 9 months old. The couple who now owned him had acquired him from an elderly couple who had owned this young dog (they'd named Skeeter) from the time he was a puppy. It seems that Skeeter ate a rather good sized rock in their back yard and had to have it surgically removed from his stomach. Believing that he'd probably try the same trick again if he continued living in their home, the elderly couple gave Skeeter to this couple who already owned another Corgi. Well, Winston (formerly Skeeter) and their own Corgi had a wonderful time chasing each other around the back yard all day long, barking and generally having a simply wonderful time! Unfortunately, the husband worked nights and needed to sleep during the day and couldn't stand all the noise... hence, they'd decided to keep their Corgi and find a new home for Winston.

For Amy, it was love at first sight. We went back to pick up Winston, and introduced him at the park to our other dog Buffy. We gave Winston a new name - Shorty. Now at the age of 21, Amy hardly remembers a time when Shorty wasn't with us.

Many people will say that a dog is just a pet. For us, Shorty was part of our family and we will forever miss him.

Urban Legends

It happened again today.

I received an e-mail from someone who forwarded something they assumed was correct, which also happened to be something they really wanted to believe.

Wikipedia defines Urban Legends as the following:

Urban legends are a kind of folklore consisting of stories often thought to be factual by those circulating them (see rumor). The term is often used with a meaning similar to the expression "apocryphal story." Urban legends are not necessarily untrue, but they are often false, distorted, exaggerated, or sensationalized. Despite the name, urban legends do not necessarily take place in an urban setting. The name is designed to differentiate them from traditional folklore in preindustrial times.

A friend pointed me to this web site some time ago - http://www.snopes.com/ .
If you're ever questioning whether a story or 'urban legend' you've heard is true, go to this web site and search for your story. They have an extensive list, with sources cited.

We've all done it at some point - passed on some juicy piece of news. But before you hit that 'send' or 'forward' key, please check out whether what you are about to send is really true. Let's not spread rumor or gossip no matter who it is about, or how interesting it may seem.

Love-Love

I've been watching a bit of the U.S. Open Grand Slam Tennis championships, and contemplating on the competition.

Did you see the match between Andre Agassi (USA) and Marcos Baghdatis (Cyprus)? A 5-set, hours long, tennis slug-fest between two men, one younger, the other older, both ailing, who pushed through their pain each and every point. Each wanted to win - neither gave up. Volleys were long, points were argued and challenged, each side's gallery rooted for their player to win.

When the match was completed and Agassi had won (6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, 7-5), the players met at the net to shake hands. Baghdatis spent more than the obligatory time congratulating Agassi, and spoke the most gracious words into the microphone at center court.

Do you think Baghdatis was disappointed in the loss to Agassi? Most assuredly, as was Agassi two days later in his loss to Benjamin Becker. Did you hear any words of condemnation toward the opponent after the match?

Of course we can all remember tennis matches of the past between John MacEnroe or Jimmy Connors and their opponents, and the arguments over umpire's calls. But, usually when the match was over, no mention of the disagreement was made, no furthering of argument was heard. The competition was simply, over. Sportsmanlike conduct is and was required.

Rules of conduct for church disagreement exist as well, but unfortunately, sometimes don't seem to be settled with the graciousness these tennis players exhibited. It hurts my heart to see brothers and sisters in Christ argue their points; then, when one 'side' has lost, continue to berate the other. We know from Acts 15 that Paul and Barnabas had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company (verse 39), each working to spread the Gospel although they had disagreed.

Scripture tells us that Paul later spoke highly of Barnabas and Mark, although their reconciliation is not specifically mentioned (Colossians 4:10; 1 Corinthians 9:6).

So, do you think it is a good idea for Christian siblings to agree to disagree and part company for awhile? Have you ever had a disagreement with a friend and allowed time to heal the wound, then you came back together as friends as if nothing had happened? When one side can agree to disagree but the other side holds firm to their point - then what happens?

Too often, and I'm speaking of myself as well, we dwell in the past. We dwell on points lost, or even gloat over points won.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

I would like to be remembered by my gracious words, as I remembered the gracious words of Marcos Baghdatis. May my conduct today be worthy.