Who can be a Disciple?

I have been asked by one of my co-workers as to my faith and then a stunning question was asked as to who could be called a disciple!?
When Jesus walked the face of the earth, His most intimate relationship was with the twelve apostles. Men who He personally selected and called to follow Him. From a distance, we might think that a friendship with the Lord of the universe would be reserved for gifted or very religious people.
But, as I told my co-worker, take a closer look. Those twelve were people just like you and me. They were not distinguished for their natural talents or intellectual power. They were prone to mistakes, wrong attitudes, lapses in faith and bitter failures. They came mainly from ordinary occupations that never would have suggested they were candidates for spiritual success.
Yet those ordinary men had an extrodinary relationship with the Master. The talked with Him, walked with Him and heard Him teach. They even saw Him lay hands on the sick and raise the dead to new life. Eventually they heard Him call them "friends" (John 15:14-15). Imagine, "friends" with God Himself!
I then asked my co-worker if he longed for an "intimate" relationship with our God and Savior? I told him that God delights in making Himself known to those who have no special talents or pedigree. He does not look for those with earthly accomplishments, but for those who have humble hearts and bow before the authority of His Word (Isaiah 66:2)
My co-worker now has something to think about! We are contiuing our dialoge this week which is making me do even more studying than I have previously done. As we progress through this, i will continue to write more about our discussions.

The loss of an unborn baby

Saturday afternoon, while my wife and I were taking care of errands, my cell phone rang. It was our middle son from Dibol. When I answered the phone I could tell that there was something not right. I asked him what was going on and he proceeded to explain to me that his wife had miscarried her fetus.
Last week, they went to the Doctors for an ultrasound. The Doctor had a hard time finding the baby and when they turned the volume up to hear the sound of a heartbeat, there was none. I can't imagine the shock and pain that they both must have felt at that point.
Most of us today shy away from talking about death. We are uncomfortable with this topic, because we have know no idea what death really is. Oh yes, when the heart stops beating and the lungs top breathing, the body dies. But no one knows what happens to the soul part of us. No one knows what happens to us after we die, since no one has come back thirty days after, to us that information. We have beliefs, it is true. Some of us believe that there is a Heaven and a Hell, some of us don't. But nobody knows for sure.
Between the lack of knowledge of death and the fear we all have of it, silence reigns supreme when someone dies. And I suppose it is even worse when someone dies even before their birth, or when there is a miscarriage.
What makes this such a painful experience is that such a death can be called a "double death," and it is this doubling of grief that complicates the mourning process.
First the baby died. That in itself is a tragedy. She carried the fetus for however long the term and to now be faced with the grim reality that what was growing in her body is now gone, has got to be hard for her.
But in addition, this death is also the death of her hopes, dreams and expectations for this unborn child of hers. She was already dreaming about its growing up and making friends in school, moving on to college life experiences, marriage and the birth of grandchildren. All this too has now come to an end. This is the "double death" that she is now feeling. Unfortunately, some people treat this death as something less important, unworthy of caring about.
The tragedy of it all is, that she needs for those close to her to reach out and listen to her, to treat this as "real," not something she has made up. She needs hugs from her friends and family, not silence or condescension. She needs to know they still love her, so that she can begin again to love herself and to properly prepare for the rest of her life.
I leave this prayer for my departed grandchild.

Dear God,

Please take the soul and spirit of this dear departed one into the sweetest corner

of your mind, the most tender place in Your heart, that they and I, might be comforted.

For now, they are gone, and I pray God, for the strength to remember they have not

gone far. For they are with You and shall remain so forever. They remain with me,

for we are all in You together. The cord that binds us one to the other cannot be cut, surely

not by death. For You dear God, have brought us together, and we remain in eternal connection.

There is no power greater than You. Death is not Your master, nor mine. These things

I believe and ask my heart to register. I surrender to You my grief. I surrender to you

my pain. Please take care of Your servant, my dear one who has passed. And please, dear Lord,

take care of me.

(Marianne Williamson)

Do our Animals go to Heaven

It has been almost four months since we had to put our Snow Shoe Siamese down. I have often wondered if our animals go to heaven? I have done a tremendous amount of research on this, both pro and con as to "if" they do infact go to heaven. I have found that if you, as a person, are "right" with God, that you will indeed once again see your companions. Pets can be loyal, loving and kind without expecting anything in return. They take on their own personalities such as Racci did.

Some 20 years ago, my wife and I while living in Lake Jackson took in a Snow Shoe Siamese that was found at the Dow Chemical Plant in Lake Jackson, Texas. It would be quite an undertaking for the both of us as neither of us where cat people and had always had dogs. At that time we had two Labrador Retrievers.

Racci Racoon was the name that we gave her. She was a little ball of tan and white fur with seal point markings and white boots on her feet. Her face resembled that of a Tabby and she took very quickly to her new home enviorment along with her 70+ lb. brother and sister.

Siamese, as we soon found out, are usually one owner pets and she quickly took to me. My wife, on the other hand, had ankles that looked as if she had walked through a brier patch. Racci would attck her first thing in the morning as she came out of the bedroom. It became apparant that Racci would have to have her front claws removed and remain as an indoor cat for most of her life if we were to keep her. My wife took her to the vet and had this done and cried when she went to pick her up and bring her home, as her feet were shaved and very small.

Racci quickly learned how to adapt to living in a house with large dogs. She would wait for them to go to sleep on the floor and would walk over to them, grab there jowel. pull it out and then walk away as if nothing had happened. She also had "her" territory" and insured that she was well protected on all sides from attack of those large dogs. She would sleep and hide under the entertainment center on the very bottom shelf. ( That is where she resides now, watching over everything that goes on).

As she progressed in age, Racci became more my wifes cat than mine. My wife would sit in her chair at night and Racci seemed quite content to curl up with her and stay there for as long as she could. Occasionally, she would get down and come over to my chair and curl up with me for a while. Her demeener seemed to be changing with age. She even would allow company to perhaps pet her, if she was in the mood. We noticed some changes in the last few months before we had her put to sleep. She normally would get up on the bed and curl up between my wife and I which she did not do. She would walk around the house and seem to get lost and stand there and cry until we came and got her.

June 23rd, was when our Lab/Ridgeback mix (Tassy) woke us up. I went into the living room and found Racci laying on her side unable to move. I quickly picked her up and got a towel and wrapped her up and put her in her bed. She had a stroke sometime during the night. My wife and I anguished over what to do, as the Vets office was closed and we could not reach them. We went to church that morning leaving her in her bed and comfortable for the time being. We came home to find still no change. We went to bed that evening praying that she would go peacefully in her sleep that night. Upon arising the next morning we found no change and we decided that it was time to put her down. I took her over to the vets and went through all of the paperwork to have her put to sleep. As the Doctor administered the shot, Racci looked up at me with those eyes that I had looked into so many times before as if to say, "It's O.K. Dad." As she drew her last breath, I bent down to kiss her on the head as I had done so many times before, but this time with tears streaming down my face.



Edwin Arnold has written a poem that describes why I feel that we will see our beloved pets again.

"Farewell Master yet not farewell,

Where I go, ye too shall dwell,

I am gone, before your face,

A moments time, a little space,

When ye come where I have stepped

Ye will wonder why ye wept."