Tuesday, June 28, 2011

suppose I told you a story

well my dear ones,

Suppose I told you a story
of a dog that got hit by a truck,
hit by a man who stopped for a second,
saw that the dog was still alive,
and then took off.

Suppose I told you
that someone found the dog,
took it to a vet
where it was scanned,
found to have a chip,
so the owner was called
...and she didn't want the dog back.

Well, that would be pretty awful, no?

Yet suppose I further told you
that the lady who stopped
and saved the dog
and brought it to the vet
paid to have it fixed up.

And suppose I told you
that the vet put its back legs in splints,
and that the dog needed physical therapy;
also that the vet found someone
who wanted that poor doggie;
and that THAT guy needed physical therapy,
therapy that he had been neglecting,
but he now goes to his physical therapy
because the dog needs it, too;
and for that reason alone
he goes into the pool with the dog.

Well, that might seem
more like the hand of Divine Providence
making the best of a bad situation
and bringing two hurting souls together
to help each other...

...yes, the whole thing is true;
my friend, Judith, is the one
who stopped for the dog,
who is now in a better home,
one where he is well-loved,
one where man and dog
can heal together and bond
and add to each others' lives.

Although the beginning freaked me out,
it pleased me well to hear this tale
to its conclusion;
hence, I pass it on to you.

Have a great week!

grace, peace, and love to you,

dave

"Until one has loved an animal,
a part of one's soul remains un-awakened."

--- Anatole France

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

renewal

well my dear ones,


Recently, my young friend, Will, got married
and asked that some other couples
might speak some words of encouragement
into his marriage.

It's been over a week since I said I would,
but no post happens before its time,
and I just heard some words today
that I needed
to make this an entry
that can apply to anyone and everyone.

A friend reminded me this morning
that while men are looking for respect
women want to be cherished,
to feel that they are special.
Anyone in any relationship
would do well to bear that in mind.

And anyone who is not in a relationship
at this moment in time
might want to remember
the write up I did long ago
about the couple who found love
in their late seventies.

Yes, love, true love, can find you at any time;
so if you're still looking for it,
keep your heart open
and hold on to hope.

For example,
what would you say the odds are
of a divorced woman with three kids
finding love and marriage?

Personally, I'd say they're excellent,
since such was my wife before
we were married;
and we've been married for 19 years;
in fact, we just had a renewal of vows.

Here's our new vows...

http://theeverencouragingword.blogspot.com/2011/06/marriage-renewal-vows.html


And here's our original vows...

http://theeverencouragingword.blogspot.com/2011/06/marriage-vows.html


And here is us getting married
at the edge of the Grand Canyon

http://theeverencouragingword.blogspot.com/2011/06/grand-canyon-wedding.html


As God's natural cathedral,
the canyon has a saying,
"I am ten thousand cathedrals rolled into one."

Since the site where we got married
(West Rim worship site)
is an ancient Native American site,
we thought it appropriate to add
the Apache Blessing to our vows.

You can see the larger cross stitch version
that my wife made here...

http://theeverencouragingword.blogspot.com/2011/06/apache-blessing.html


As I said, we've been married a long time.
So, what's the secret of a long marriage?
Commitment,
communication,
and common goals (i.e. a shared vision,
which prevents battles over
how to spend your time and money).

Love can happen at any time,
and I'm convinced
that God has someone for everyone.
So if you've found your someone,
cherish them;
and if you're still looking
for your someone,
keep an open heart
and hold on to your hope.


Have a great week!


grace, peace, and love to you,

dave



“There is a God, and it's not you.
Objective reality exists,
and you don't control it.
Truth exists, and it can be known.
You are unique in all Creation;
your life has meaning;
and there is always hope.”

--- The Ever Encouraging Word


"I have come that they may have life,
and that they may have it more abundantly."

--- Jesus

The Apache Blessing

This, also, was part of our wedding vows...

Grand Canyon wedding

Here is our marriage pic
on the edge of the Grand Canyon,
a place known as the West Rim worship site...


In our ceremony, we faced into the canyon,
and the pastor stood behind the stone altar;
note that he was only two steps from
an eleven hundred foot fall!
It's an awesome view from here, though.

marriage vows

Here are our original marriage vows...




marriage renewal vows

These are our marriage renewal vows...

Sunday, June 12, 2011

the guiding hand

     

well my dear ones,


First off, let me just say
that I am the worst at social networking;
livejournal, facebook, whatever,
I stink at all of them;
birthdays I miss altogether;
messages go unanswered for weeks.

All I do is get on and post,
which leads me to today's topic...

In the natural,
barring the supernatural,
this page should be blank.

You should be seeing nothing right now.

I could have drowned at age 5,
but my Mom's friend saved me.

I could have died in a car accident
back when I was 17,
but I was able to swerve enough
that no one got seriously hurt.

Two brushes with death,
both easily explained away in the natural.

However, many years ago,
just a couple of years out of college,
my friend Mike and I went on
our cross-country motorcycle trip.

Our circuitous 25,000 mile path
covered 37 states in 4 months
with a nominal destination*
of Long Beach, California
to visit our friend, Randi
(one must always have
 some kind of goal, neh? =>).

On night, while still in
the greater Los Angeles area,
I was out riding by myself
and I got on it,
I got really crazy...

I was doing like 85 in a 35...

Yeah, yeah, young and dumb,
especially as I'm in an unfamiliar place!

The next thing I know,
I've run through a red light
I didn’t even see until too late;
I brake and swerve
and I'm on the wrong side of the road
still going way too fast...

Traffic? 
Yeah, plenty of it.

I remember thinking,
"this is it!"
I figured my life was over, for sure.

Everything wrong there is to do, I did.
Locking both brakes,
skidding, sliding,
cars honking, passing me on the wrong side.

I surely should have been killed,
yet I felt a push like a hand
that guided me through
and back to the other side.

When it was over,
I felt like I was incredibly lucky;
then I kind of pushed it down in my mind,
and never really thought much about it again
(which in itself is extraordinary!)
until this morning when I was
praying about what to write this week.

The thing God put on my heart was,
"whose hand guided you that day?"
Then the remembrance of that time
came back to me.

Los Angeles, The City of Angels...
surely an angel was sent
to help me that day!

And why?

For that I have an answer.
When I asked,
the One who spoke
and the universe leapt into existence
reminded me of the first time I had
read "The Stand" by Stephen King,
the part where Mother Abigail
recalls how God told her
there was work for her at a future time,
across the years,
hence her life was preserved till that time.

The word I have
is that I was guided through the traffic that day
that I might be here now
to write these words for you
and to speak a word of encouragement to you.

God knew you before you were formed in the womb;
you are special to God;
your life has meaning and purpose;
(and since you're still here,
 then your purpose has yet
 to be achieved =>)
and even on the days when you may not feel it,
you are loved by God.



Have a great week!


grace, peace, and love to you,

dave



“There is a God, and it's not you.
 Objective reality exists,
 and you don't control it.
 Truth exists, and it can be known.
 You are unique in all Creation;
 your life has meaning;
 and there is always hope.”

   --- The Ever Encouraging Word


"I have come that they may have life,
and that they may have it more abundantly."

                              --- Jesus

Wednesday, June 08, 2011

here there be tigers


     

well my dear ones,


Sometimes I’m a little slow,
and sometimes I have to re-learn the same lesson
over and over again.

Thankfully, the wisdom of God is above my own,
so I get the lessons I need when I need them.

My wife and I already have
more than enough things to do,
however,
a feral cat had 5 kittens
and brought them into our backyard to nurse.
My wife was able to catch three of them.

The mother took the other two into the woods;
once they are weaned, we’ll trap all three
so they can be spay/neutered.

In the meantime,
the other three are living in a bathtub.
Too small to eat from a bowl,
they started out being fed from bottles.

Three times a day,
the second we open the door,
all three kitties start crying
to get let out and get their food.
They’re so small that we can
pick up all three on one arm.

Caring for such small things,
such dependent little creatures,
reminds me how much I need
God’s grace on a daily basis.

You can see them here, for
“here there be tigers”
tigers of the hearth, that is *lol*




I’d almost forgotten how much fun it is
to care for some of God’s littlest creatures.

Have a great week!


grace, peace, and love to you,

dave


"Silence in the face of evil is itself evil:
 God will not hold us guiltless.
 Not to speak is to speak.
 Not to act is to act."
      --- Dietrich Bonheoffer

sleeping kitties

& they're so cute when they're sleeping!  =)

pics of 3 new kittens

Three baby kittens: Neely (golden), Georgie (black striped) and Miss Clarie (brown & black)