Rescue

A couple of Saturdays ago Jon and I had to go to Petsmart to get Buddy’s expensive food with avocado for his coat. When we arrived, they had a German Shepherd rescue display out front.
‘Let’s just go look’, I said.
“ OK ,but remember you can not have another dog. The one you have now is aging and needs lots of care .”
“ I’m just going to look. They are so beautiful”.
To be honest, if I did not have Buddy, I would have come home with a new dog. Each one was so lovely and needed a loving home, ME!
I read their names and wondered what had brought them to this place in their lives that they have been given up or abandoned by their previous owners. Who could give away such incredibly handsome dogs???
I finally had to tear myself away and go into the store to get the dog food I had come for. But, in the tradition of my family who all cry easily, I wept as I walked through the store.
“ I hope that no one talks to me”, I said to Jon. Sniff, sniff.
On the way out to my car, I glanced that way again but had to hurry , lest I break out into full blown sobbing.
Jon was anxious to get me home, dog less, since our daughter had rescued dear Bob last year from the pet store and Jon was afraid I was about to follow suit.
A couple of days later I came across a passage in the New Testament that says that God rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and brought us home to the kingdom of his dear Son, Jesus. I guess that God wept over us and could not leave us where we were, with no one to care for us and defend us . His was the giant rescue that was priceless in cost. But not free. It cost the life of Jesus. Imagine God wanting what the world had abandoned and being willing to pay the highest price.

Lost

Yesterday my daughter lost her beloved Bob. Not that he died but that he got out the gate and ran like the greyhound that he is. Funny that the other dogs just looked around and went back in the yard. But not Bob. He was up for an adventure.
And so the search began. Canvassing the neighborhood, calling and crying. Even talking to complete strangers, in case they had seen this wee one. At 6 pounds he would be easy to miss. Then repeat the process adding fliers, posting on Craig’s list, calling animal control and local vets. All to no avail.
As it got dark and cold, no Bob was found, despite superhuman efforts. Truth be told, one someone cried all night long over the loss of dear Bob.
But the new day brought a call from a lady who had found Bob on her front porch cold and hungry. She had seen one of the fliers and so the family was reunited. Then we got the call,
“ Bob is home and safe in my arms.”
Now, he is scraped up and ravenous but hopefully the wanderlust is gone from this adventurer.
If his owners had not persisted, he would still be lost.
In Luke 15 Jesus told a parable about lost things. Lost coins, lost sheep and lost son. In each case, the searcher never gave up until the item was found. The point was that this was a series of three pictures of how God searches for his lost children. Often, like Bob, they either don’t know they are lost and don’t know how they got lost. But God, like my daughter, never gives up until they are safe in his arms.
Welcome home Bob.
God waits to welcome you too, friend.

Is it worth it?

Today as I was making the bed funny thing happened. Well not really funny but kind of. I do this tricky thing of pinning the fitted sheet to the mattress. I know, I know. It is fitted right? well It is a king size sheet on a queen mattress. Don't even go there! I do that so that it stays on the mattress and does not wad up.
So, as I was doing my thing, I dropped one of the pins and it fell way down under the bed at the head of the bed. To reach it I would have had to bend down, crawl up the head of the bed on the floor( with the dust bunnies) and grab it.
I said to myself - out loud- 'It will just have to stay there. It is not worth it to put my back out when I have lots more.'
Just as the words left my mouth, God spoke in my mind,
'I will never say that to any lost one who cries out to me. I will come down, I did bend down, come down ,reach down. That is the whole point of the cross. You have about much worth as a tiny safety pin but I will give you value by my salvation, my love and my daily work in your life. Count on it. Rest in it.'

New song

So I guess that my' cancer' vacation is over. ( see carepages.com/ journeywithjon)
Back to posting my thoughts.
On my walk today I was thinking about Psalm 33 which says that God gave me a new song. What song???
Then it hit me.
My old song( which comes back to mind all too often) was " I did it my way"
My new song is " your my master, your my owner and I love serving you".
It is no longer about me, but about God and His glory.

Did you see...?

Yesterday I took a nice walk early and watered my trees and pampas grass on the other side of our fence. I also watered the red climbing rose bush that is in full bloom just now. I wish it was in my yard where I could see it. So I decided to walk home, grab my shears and come back to cut an armload of roses to enjoy at home. And that is just what I did. I ended with a full armload and walked the block back to my house. Oon the way, I met a lady out for her walk. All of a sudden I realized that it looked like I had cut them from some neighbor's yard and was proudly taking them home. I had never seen this lady before and felt compelled to explain, but I didn't. They were, after all MY roses.
Things are not always what they seem. It seemed that I was a thief and I was not. She could have judged me and been wrong. How many times do I judge others when I do not have the info? Jesus said that I am to take the log out of my own eye, not worry about the sawdust in my neighbor's eye. Funny how the speck in someone else's eye is so much easier to see!

Have you missed me?

In case you don't know, I have been journaling Jon's cancer treatments on carepages.com. You register and then go to journeywithjon.
I may post here too from time to time but find that often I either lack energy to cohesive thoughts.

Transfer of ownership

The other day we sold my little red car- Bobbi. I hated to part with her but since Jon retired I am not really using her and it was just needless money spent on insurance, etc. So we posted her on the internet and sold her. The lady drove us crazy before it was all said and done, but she was the only one to call. As my Father used to say, ” a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush”.
We did a pile of paperwork, most of it from DVM but also a bill of sale I printed from the internet that shows, ‘as it, no warrantee.’ Before I let it go I took a couple of pictures for posterity. I still feel sad every time that we open the garage door and there is no little red car.
Well on to other things, or so we thought.
Today we got a registered letter from the city of Modesto. Inside was a notice of impound on my dear car. Seems that the lady never turned in her paperwork to transfer ownership. She got picked up for something or other and towed the car away. Now they were going to hold us accountable for it.
Jon called the tow service and they said we needed to bring in copies of the paperwork showing we have filed the release. Be sure that they are date stamped. Ha! Here is the hitch. We mailed them! So we called DMV and they said that it would take 4-6 weeks for them to be entered. But the gal did recommend that we take our copies and have them date stamped, even if it was today, and take to the tow company. So that is what we did.
When we pulled into the tow lot, I began to cry, missing my car and feeling bad that she was out on the lot when she had always garaged and taken care of lovingly. In fact, she is a 1991 but the gal said that it was so clean that she thought is was a 1999!!! Silly to cry, but I did.
Fortunately we did have all the right stuff and are released from responsibility for the car. The lady had been there but they will not release the car until she does all the paperwork. In the meantime, it is costing her $135.00 a day! And it has been there 5 days already. Shortly, she will have paid the price of the car again.
Moral of the story is that when you sell a car, have the person meet you are DMV and see that they fill out the paperwork then and there. And get it date stamped.
When God purchased us, he did not do it with greenbacks or silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ. And he filled out all the paperwork ASAP. We are then, not our own or anyone else’s but His alone, bought with a price.
Now here is a bonus thought: Satan tries to get us to believe that God did not secure us fair and square, paperwork and all. He loves to drag us into the impound lot and dump us there, accumulating debts we can’t pay until we give up. But we have already been paid for. Don’t let him fool you. Remember that the transaction has been made and you belong to God, through Jesus Christ. You can leave the lot any time you want by running to your real owner, God Himself, confessing your sins and accepting His forgiveness.
And ever got towed there again. Show you bill of sale any time the evil one shows up to drag you away. You can find it at John 5:24

Did you get the memo?

The same day we took our ‘tree’ for a walk, we saw another interesting sight. We live near a Junior High and as a result, they have put in a roundabout as a traffic calming device. Many people are wary of them. They are not sure how to enter or when and it is a wonder there are not more accidents. You basically have to slow to a crawl and yield to any cars in the roundabout the proceed with caution since you never know who might not know the ‘rules’.
So, back to my story. As we were talking our ‘tree’, we saw a big semi barreling down on the roundabout. He obviously did not know that it was there. As he approached it, he stopped and pulled to the side of the road. It was impossible for him to enter it. The longer we watched, we guessed he now knew he was in trouble. Somehow the dispatcher either did not know about the roundabout on this route or he forget to give the driver a memo about it. He could be very thankful that he did not enter the silly thing or he would have been stuck for sure ,with no way out.
As an aside, I well remember seeing a tour bus get stuck on Lombard street in San Francisco( the crooked street in the US) and it took the longest time to free it. I do not remember how they did it but I bet it was amazing to watch.
Isn’t life like that. You are barreling along and all of a sudden you hit a section of life that seems to have no way to go forward. And no way back. You feel stuck and want out ASAP. Most recently for us, it has been the cancer diagnosis. But there have been other trials along the way such as my chronic pain or financial reverses or the emotional pain of our daughters. At times like that, you wish that you have read the memo.
What memo? God probably has one for whatever you are facing. That has been my experience.
“Don’t’ go that way or you will regret it.’
‘Do this and you will find peace.’
‘ Rest in me, do not fret, it only leads to anger or worse.’
So before you set of for the day, be sure to read the memo .