50 yards

 

well my dear ones,

 

Once time I was reading about a woman

named Florence May Chadwick.

In 1950 she set a new world record

for swimming the English Channel

(21 miles as the crow flies;

 yet it can be up to a 39 mile swim

 depending on winds and tides)

from France to England in 13 hours 20 minutes.

 

A year later, she swam it again,

but in the opposite direction,

making her the first woman to swim the channel

in both directions.

 

In 1952, she tried to swim the 26 miles

between Catalina Island

and the California coastline. 

She was flanked by small boats

to watch out for sharks

or help her if she got in trouble.

15 hours into her swim,

a dense fog rolled in

and she began to doubt if she could make it.

 

She swam for one more hour,

then called it quits.

 

Sitting in a boat,

she discovered that she had

only had one more mile to go.

 

She made it over 96 percent of the way;

and that made me wonder,

if not for the fog,

if she could have seen the goal,

would she have not given up?

Would she have made it?

 

How many times have you

felt like giving up on something?

 

I have, plenty of times.

 

But now,

every time since I read about Florence,

every time I want to quit something

because I think I’ll never reach the goal,

I tell myself,

“Maybe I’m just a mile from shore.

 In fact, the future, the unknown,

 is so much thicker than any English fog,

 maybe I’m only 50 yards from shore!”

 

And the thought of that,

the thought that I might be

just about to make it,

spurs me on.

 

*shrugs*

 

Just some food for thought;

the next time you feel like

you want to give up on something,

remind yourself that

you might just be 50 yards from shore.

 

So hang in there.

 

Have a great week! =)

 

 

grace, peace, and love to you,

dave

our beloved pets

 

well my dear ones,

 

 

Despite an emergency trip to the animal hospital

as well as two follow up visits

and around the clock feeding by my wife...

 

http://theeverencouragingword.blogspot.com/2013/08/feeding-time.html

 

 

...the little fuzz, Jeremiah, didn’t make it.

 

We only had him in our lives for 10 days,

so, does it matter?

 

It does to me.

 

If we had it to do over again,

even knowing how it would turn out,

I’d still want my wife to take him in.

 

Because instead of dying alone, in pain,

and unable to even see,

he got to spend some time with us,

where he was showered with affection,

and he died in a home

held by those who loved him.

 

http://theeverencouragingword.blogspot.com/2013/08/little-fuzz.html

 

 

Will there be animals in heaven?

We’ve talked of this before;

the Bible supports it.

 

“Creation itself also will be delivered

from the bondage of corruption

into the glorious liberty

of the children of God. 

For we know that the whole Creation

[i.e. including animals]

groans and labors with birth pangs

together until now.”

--- Revelation 5:21-22

 

(see more support here:

http://rainbowsbridge.com/Grief_Support_Center/Grief_Support/scripture.htm )

 

 

After he passed away,

my wife was praying about Jeremiah;

and just as soon as she finished,

she got a clear vision of him

playing with Lulu

[the little kitten we only had for 2 days]

in the grass in the fields of heaven.

And that gave her (and me)

a measure of the peace

that passes all human understanding.

 

For anyone of you who ever lost a beloved pet,

you might also like this website:

 

http://www.eternalanimals.com/

 

 

Rest in peace, little fuzz,

Until we see you again.

 

http://theeverencouragingword.blogspot.com/2013/08/resting-in-his-fave-spot.html

 

http://theeverencouragingword.blogspot.com/2013/08/sleepy-fuzz.html

 
 

grace, peace, and love to you,

dave

feeding time

little fuzz

resting in his fave spot

sleepy fuzz

Lacey & Jeremiah

 

 

well my dear ones,

 

 

A few days ago,

my wife found an abandoned kitten.

It was starving,

with eyes crusted shut so it couldn’t see,

and, as we found out later,

it also had a broken leg!

 

My wife called her “Lacey,”

and made her a little nest,

after she first cleaned up her eyes.

 

The next day, Lacey was off to the vet,

where they found out “she”

was actually a little boy kitty

with a broken leg.

 

[Hence, my wife re-named him Jeremiah,

after the character played by Luke Perry

in the post-apocalyptic TV series,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremiah_(TV_series)]

 

The women at Southwood Animal Hospital

are so awesome!

They made him a little splint from

coffee stirrers,

after first washing him

and then drying him with a blow dryer

to make sure he didn’t catch a chill.

One of the women even took him home

for the night just to ensure he was OK.

 

For now, he lives in a big cage

in the living room

until his leg heals.

 

He loves to spend time

snuggling with the Mommy

who saved him.

 

http://theeverencouragingword.blogspot.com/2013/08/snuggling-with-his-mommy.html

 

And loves to sleep on the neck

of the Daddy who feeds him.

 

http://theeverencouragingword.blogspot.com/2013/08/sleepig-on-his-daddy.html

 

Hopefully, his little cast

will be off soon.

 

http://theeverencouragingword.blogspot.com/2013/08/pic-with-his-little-cast.html

 

Some might ask,

“You can’t save them all;

 does it matter

 what your wife did?”

 

*shrugs*

 

It matters to this little kitty

 

http://theeverencouragingword.blogspot.com/2013/08/too-cute-for-his-own-fuzz.html

 

...as well as to everyone

who reads about him.

 

 

Have a great week!  =)

 

grace, peace, and love to you,

dave

snuggling with his Mommy

sleeping on his Daddy

pic with his little cast

too cute for his own fuzz

pancakes

 

 

well my dear ones,

 

 

I heard a story today

about a couple who’ve been married

for a total of 73 years.

 

When asked what the secret was

to being able to stay married so long,

they said it’s love...and pancakes.

 

I was so intrigued by that

that I did a google search,

and found this article on them:

 

http://www.wave3.com/story/23042476/gulfport-couple-married-73-years-says-pancakes-are-the-key-to-lasting-love

 

Pancakes?

 

I’ve been married for over 20 years,

so how come no one told me the secret formula?

 

Oh well, I love pancakes too much;

if my wife made me some everyday,

I’d likely weigh 900 pounds by now. *lol*

 

Still, it’s kind of nice to see that,

in an era when the world seems to tell us

that relationships are transitory,

there are people who are making love work.

 

I think that’s pretty cool.

 

Have a great week!  =)

 

grace, peace, and love to you,

dave