Two Horses

There is a field, with two horses in it.

From a distance, each horse looks like any other horse. But if you stop your car, or are walking by, you will notice something quite amazing. Looking into the eyes of one horse will disclose that he is blind. His owner has chosen not to have him put down, but has made a good home for him.

This alone is amazing.

If you stand nearby and listen, you will hear the sound of a bell.

Looking around for the source of the sound, you will see that it comes from the smaller horse in the field.

Attached to the horse’s halter is a small bell. It lets the blind friend know where the other horse is, so he can follow.

As you stand and watch these two horses, you’ll see that the horse with the bell is always checking on the blind horse, and that the blind horse will listen for the bell and then slowly walk to where the other horse is, trusting that he will not be led astray.

When the horse with the bell returns to the shelter of the barn each evening, it stops occasionally and looks back, making sure that the blind friend isn’t too far behind to hear the bell.

Like the owners of these two horses, God does not throw us away just because we are not perfect or because we have problems or challenges.

He watches over us and even brings others into our lives to help us when we are in need.

Sometimes we are the blind horse being guided by the little ringing bell of those who God uses to guide us.

Other times we are the guide horse, helping others to find their way….

Good friends are like that… You may not always see them, but you know they are always there.

More inspirational animals

In 2003, police in Warwickshire , England , opened a garden shed and found a whimpering, cowering dog.  It had been locked in the shed and abandoned. It was dirty and malnourished, and had clearly been abused.  In an act of kindness, the police took the dog, which was a Greyhound female, to the nearby  Nuneaton Warwickshire Wildlife Sanctuary, run by a man named Geoff Grewcock and known as a willing  haven for Animals abandoned, orphaned or otherwise in need.

Geoff and the other sanctuary staff went to work with two aims: to restore

Jasimine

the dog to full health, and to win her trust. It took several weeks, but eventually both goals were achieved.

They named her Jasmine, and they started to think about finding her an adoptive home.  But Jasmine had other ideas. No one remembers now how it began, but she started welcoming all  animal arrivals at the sanctuary. It wouldn’t matter if it was a puppy, a fox cub, a rabbit or, any other  lost or hurting animal, Jasmine would peer into the box or cage and, where possible, deliver  a welcoming lick.

Geoff relates one of the early incidents. “We had two puppies that had been abandoned by a nearby railway line. One was a Lakeland Terrier cross and another was a Jack Russell Doberman cross.  They were tiny when they arrived at the centre and Jasmine approached them and grabbed one by the scruff of the neck in her mouth and put him on the settee. Then she fetched the other one and sat down  with them, cuddling them.”

“But she is like that with all of our animals, even the rabbits. She takes all the stress out of them and it  helps them to not only feel close to her but to settle into their new surroundings.  “She has done the same with the fox and badger cubs, she licks the rabbits and guinea pigs and even lets the birds perch on the bridge of her nose.”

Jasmine, the timid, abused, deserted waif, became the animal sanctuary’s resident surrogate mother, a role for which she might have been born. The list of orphaned and abandoned youngsters she has cared for comprises five fox cubs, four badger cubs, 15 chicks, eight guinea pigs, two stray puppies and 15 rabbits.  And one roe deer fawn. Tiny

Jasimine and fawn

Bramble, 11 weeks old, was found semi-conscious in a field. Upon arrival at the sanctuary, Jasmine cuddled up to her to keep her warm, and then went into the full foster mum role. Jasmine the greyhound showers Bramble the Roe deer with affection and makes sure nothing is matted.

“They are inseparable,” says Geoff “Bramble walks between her legs and they keep kissing each other.  They walk together round the sanctuary.  It’s a real treat to see them.”  Jasmine will continue to care for Bramble until she is old enough to be returned to woodland life.  When that happens, Jasmine will not be lonely.  She will be too busy showering love and affection on the next Orphan or victim of abuse.

From left, Toby, a stray Lakeland dog; Bramble, orphaned Roe deer; Buster, a stray Jack Russell; a dumped rabbit; Sky, an injured barn owl; and Jasmine with a mother’s heart doing best what a caring mother would do…

Jasimime and "children"

Such is the order of God’s Creation.

You might be interested in the following video.

more about “Our Doggie Toy Wish List | DOGS CAN A…“, posted with vodpod

It’s a Wonderful World

Apparently the “dumb” animals can get along much better than we humans.  Enjoy the following video.

A Savior on the Loose (John 20:1-18)

For my Easter Sunday School lesson I modified an article by Craig Barnes, pastor of National Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC. Parts of his article appeared in The Christian Century, March 13-20, 2002 p. 16. I used extensively his outline and interspersed my thoughts and comments.   The following is that lesson.

John begins the Easter story with the words, “Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark. . .” (John uses darkness and light throughout his Gospel to display the current mood) This is always how our discovery of the risen Christ begins — darkness. While it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to a tomb because earlier in the week Jesus had been killed. With him, her hope died just as it has for many of us as we and others have lived out our lives. For instance consider these scenarios:

Earlier in the week, an old couple receives a phone call from their son who lives far away. The son said he was sorry, but he wouldn’t be able to come for a visit over the holidays after all. “The grandkids say hello.” They assured him that they understood, but when they hung up the phone they didn’t dare look at each other.

Earlier in the week, a woman is called into her supervisor’s office to hear the economy is bad and that for the survival of the company they are going to gave have to let her go. “So sorry.” She cleaned out her desk, packed away her hopes for getting ahead, and wondered what she would tell her kids.

Early in the week a friend of mine was called to a conference room with a number of others.They were told that they were being laid off and that a person from “Human Resources” would follow them to their desks to clean them out. They were provided with a grocery cart to carry their possessions as they were escorted to their car – and then home to tell their family.

Earlier this week, someone received terrible news from a physician. Someone else heard the words, “I have never loved you.” Earlier this week, someone’s hope was crucified. Early this week some family got the news that their son was not coming home from Iraq. Early this week someone’s cat that had been their companion for 18 years died. And the darkness is overwhelming.

No one is ever ready to encounter Easter until he or she has spent time in the dark place where hope cannot even be seen. This Easter day is not about bunnies, springtime and girls in cute new dresses. It’s about hope,unbelievable hope, more hope than we can handle. It is about change and it is about the future.

As Mary made her way down the dark road to the tomb, memories of better days in Galilee tried to pierce through the darkness. Ah, Galilee. How far away that must have seemed from this wretched place. Jesus was popular then. Hope had taken root in her heart. No one ever knew exactly what to expect of Jesus, but clearly they all had higher hopes for him than that he would be crucified as a traitor to Rome and a blasphemer to the Jews.

When Mary arrived at the tomb, she was startled and horrified to discover that it was empty. She ran to tell Peter and the beloved disciple, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” Then John tells us that for a while there was a lot of running back and forth to the tomb. This is still what we disciples of Jesus do when he is missing. We run around a lot.

Eventually it all gets to be too much for Mary and she breaks down in tears by the door of the empty tomb. When she sees a couple of angels sitting in the place where Jesus was supposed to be, she is not at all impressed and not afraid as most are at the sight of angels, but tells them, “They have taken the Lord.” Then a man she assumed to be the gardener asks her why she is weeping. Seems like a dumb question doesn’t it? Why is anyone weeping outside of a tomb? But all that Mary wants is for someone to give her back the dead body of Jesus.

Finally, the gardener, who is the risen Savior, calls her by name. “Mary.” or in Aramaic “Miriam.” Stunned, she can only say, ” Rabbouni! ” It was probably Mary’s favorite name for her old teacher. Out of indescribable joy she lunges to embrace him. But to our dismay, and certainly Mary’s, the risen Christ says, “Do not hold onto me.”

Following Jesus is a never-ending process of losing him the moment we have him captured, only to discover him anew in an even more unmanageable form.

What we long for, what we miss and beg God to give back, is dead and gone, never to return. Favorite pet cat will not return.  You will not get back the life you once had and loved.  Easter doesn’t change that. So we cannot cling to the hope that Jesus will take us back to the way it was. The way out of the darkness is only by moving ahead. And the only person who can lead the way is the Savior. Until we discover a new vision of the Savior, a savior who has risen out of our disappointments, we’ll never fully understand Easter.

The question that Easter asks of us is not “Do we believe in the doctrine of the resurrection?” Our doctrines bend easily to conform to the darkness, and before long our beliefs are reduced to sentimental claims about the spirit of Easter or new beginnings. Or we make the opposite mistake of insisting only on belief in the historical truth of this event. It’s all just a way of begging the question. What the Gospels ask is not only “Do you believe?” but ‘Have you encountered a risen Christ?”

We get the feeling that Mary was never the same after Easter. Neither is anyone who has learned that what matters is not that we be confident in our hold of Jesus, but confident in his hold of us. Seeing that, we are ready for anything.

After the resurrection, things do not return to normal. That’s the good news. It is basic to everything else the New Testament proclaims. After seeing a risen Jesus, we see that there is no normal. All we know for sure is that a risen Savior is on the loose. And he knows our names.  Be on the watch!

There is a contemporary chorus which it is my prayer you will find to be true today.

Because He lives,
I can face tomorrow,
Because He lives,
all fear is gone.
Because I know who holds the future,
that life is worth the living
Just because He lives.

You cannot have an up without a down

You cannot have

• Up without down
• In without out
• Death without life (but how about life without death?)
• mountains without valleys
• rainbows without rain {noted by Cathy}
• etc

I came across the following bit of good news the other day and I was reminded of this principle.

When God created the world he concluded by saying “It is good” and with the creation of mankind he said that “It is very good.”  So God was apparently pleased with his creation efforts.  He had done all that He could do for and to us.  There is a thought, therefore, that for every pain and disease there is also an antidote already in place, a cure if you will — an up to go with the down.  So maybe the venom of the Brown Recluse Spider is a cure for paralysis and therein would be the “good” that God saw in that part of his creation.  Wonder what the “good” there is in gnats?   Just a thought.

Leafy Sea Dragons

Linda and I stopped by the Chattanooga Aquarium yesterday while returning from a visit to combat mice and other vermin at our cabin close to John C. Campbell Folk School.  We saw the most amazing fish/animal/who_knows that I have ever seen.  All I had with me was my iPhone to take a picture, but one can at least get a view of this creatures.  They were 8 – 10 inches long and looked just like a piece of sea weed floating by.  They moved about with no apparent effort or fins — absolutely incredible.  I had seen on TV strange deep-sea creatures but these guys (distant realtives of sea horses I think) were found in the shallow reaf waters around Australia.  Absolutely amazing!!  Wish that I had my Nikon with me.

This guy is moving right to left.  Look closely and you can recognize a nose kinda thing and then one can see an eye.

The Meeting Place

Well we still don’t know what we are going to do with it, but we have thought of a name to call it and it will be called

The Meeting Place

until we can come up with something better. Any suggestions?

The following image was made standing at the entrance and looking in the direction where the pulpit used to be.  We have taken down the red curtains that used to hang, but other than that, it is the same as we acquired it.

Now standing on the pulpit location and looking back toward the entrance yields the following.

We took some of the white panels down on the front wall to reveal the underlying wall.  We found the original beaded-board siding solid and in pretty good condition.  However it has been face-nailed with headed nails and would be difficult, if not impossible to refinish.  The following picture illustrates that.

We also pulled up a corner of the carpet to reveal the underneath floor.  There we found a solid looking wood plank floor, but covered with carpet glue.

So that is where we are, but we still don’t know what to do with this very interesting building.

Big Doings

Yep, we have a new president and Linda and I have bought a new church building, emphasis on building.  We are equally excited about the future of our country, the hope that we all share with our new president and about the future of this building as we become the new owners of a historical  building built in the first of last century.

This building, built in 1907, is immediately adjcent to the location of Patches and Stitches.  We don’t know what we are going to do with this building — if you have any ideas, then let us know.

Comeback for Pooh after 80 Years

How about this!!  I am excited about this bit of news of a very happy sort. Winnie the Pooh is set to return to bookshelves, 80 years on from his first literary appearance.  The Bear of Very Little Brain will make his comeback in Return to the Hundred Acre Wood, the first authorized sequel to Milne’s original 1920s stories.

The book – written by David Benedictus with illustrations by Mark Burgess – is out in the UK and US around the first of October.

The new book has the blessing of the A A Milne and E H Shepard Estates.

Shepard, who died in 1976, drew the famous illustrations for Milne’s 1926 book Winnie-the-Pooh and its 1928 follow-up, The House at Pooh Corner.

For a recording of an interesting interview with the author containing a short reading of the introduction to the book click here.

Why can’t we all just get along?

I am convinced that there is much more that we don’t understand about the animal kingdom that what we do understand. Case in point: consider the following video of a extremely unusual odd couple.

If they can get along, then why can’t we?