PLEASE PRAY FOR MADDIE AND FRANK

Maddie will be euthanized this morning at 10:30. She is going downhill fast - and the tumors are spreading. Her purr has now become a squeak. Please pray for her gentle passing.

Frank

Frank is my brother-in law. I posted previously about Maddie here.

UPDATE: From Frank:

Well, it's over. Gretchen (Frank's daughter) went with me - that helped. Previously, I never had trouble getting Maddie in her carrier. I believe she was really hurting this morning as she kicked and screamed - scratching and biting me. She had really gone downhill even more overnight. Once in she calmed down and rode quietly to the vet. She stayed quiet until the end. The vet was great. Of course, I cried - and am still doing so now and then. She will be sorely missed. I am confident she is in a better place. BTW, I think the picture I sent you was quite ironic - notice how she is looking away - kinda like Gayle's walking away in London.

P.S. - sincere thanks for all the prayers from you and your readers.

Frank

Frank's poignant comment about the similarities in the pictures of my sister Gayle, walking away, and Maddie the Cat, facing away, moved me greatly.

Eternal Spirit, we bring you our grief in the loss of Maddie and ask for courage to bear it. We bring you our thanks for Maddie who lived among us and gave us freely of her love. We commit our friend and companion Maddie into your loving hands. Give us eyes to see how your love embraces all creatures and every living thing speaks to us of your love. Amen.

I owe credit to someone for the prayer, but I don't know to whom. Sorry.

NEITHER BLOND NOR FEMALE

These contractors are installing the steel pillars in concrete to stop vehicles from parking on the pavement outside a Sports Bar downtown.

They are now in the process of cleaning up at the end of the day anxious to go home.



How long do you think it'll be before they realize where they parked their truck?

Don't blame me. Blame Doug.

There is nothing new under the sun.

ANNIVERSARY OF MATTHEW SHEPHERD'S DEATH - 12 YEARS

Matthew Wayne Shepard - December 1, 1976 – October 12, 1998

Matthew Shepard was a member of the LGBTA (now SPECTRUM) in 1998. On October 6th of that year, he was beaten by Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson. He died 5 days later from his injuries. While his death is something that his friends at SPECTRUM will never forget, we also hope to remember his life as well. Matthew was more than a gay person who died; he was also a gay person who lived.

Twelve years and many more tears later, we remember Matthew, who was tortured and murdered because he was gay. We remember all the precious lives cut off too soon by suicide, because the youngsters, who were gay, were no longer able to bear the beatings, bullying, and/or harassment.

Let us pray:

A Litany for children who have died from bullying
--by Kirkepiscatoid

O God of justice and mercy, we pray that no more daughters and sons in this world die as the result of bullying simply because of who they are; be it race, religion, sexual orientation, or social awkwardness. Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.

That our schools become places of nurturing and hope rather than shame and derision. Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.

That our teachers instill values of charity and acceptance in all children so there is no need for one child to feel superior over another. Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.

That parents can put aside what they were sometimes taught, in order to promote tolerance and diversity at home. Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.

That our communities support children who feel “different from the others” and show them lives that are theirs to claim, lives they cannot begin to imagine to see at home. Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.

That all children can grow up feeling self-empowered and truly loved simply as themselves, and not suffer beatings and psychological abuse at home or school. Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.

O Lord, you understand this above all others, for your only Son hung among thieves on a rough wooden cross on a barren hill, just as Matthew Shepard hung from a rail fence on a lonely road. Be our light in the darkness, Lord; protect our children and fill them with the love of your Holy Spirit; hold them in your Son’s loving arms in their most fearful hours, and be with them always.
Amen.

Photo from Wikipedia.

GEORGE W. BUSH LIBRARY - S. M. U.

With breathless anticipation, the crowd awaits the unveiling of the Bush statue.

Don't blame me. Blame Doug.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ELEANOR ROOSEVELT!

"A woman is like a tea bag. You never know how strong she is until she gets into hot water."

Eleanor Roosevelt

H/T to The Writer's Almanac.

AND YOU THOUGHT YOU'D HEARD IT ALL

From Candace Chellew-Hodge at Religious Dispatches:

Despite having heard a lot of bluster from the religious right over the years, they still sometimes have the ability to say something so totally brand new, and patently offensive, that it just knocks the wind right out of me. Take this gem quoted in the Colorado Springs Gazette over the weekend in a story about the recent rash of gay teen suicides:

Peter Sprigg, senior fellow for policy studies at the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C., said the rash September suicides by gays might be linked to the students believing they were born gay. “That creates hopelessness,” he said. “It is more loving and compassionate to say you don’t have to be gay for the rest of your lives.”

What would be far more loving and compassionate is for Sprigg and his compatriots to actually engage in a true act of compassion. “Compassion” literally means “to suffer with” or “suffer together.” We can only have compassion for someone when we understand, on a deeply personal level, what, exactly, is the other person’s struggle.

He said that?!!! Well, yes he did. In the name of compassion, no less, Peter Sprigg said that. As the author says, you thought you'd heard it all.

What makes the thought of be “being gay for the rest of your lives” such a horrible, shameful, terrible thought to even bear consideration is because Sprigg and people like him dedicate their entire careers to making the lives of gays and lesbians so incredibly miserable. They produce ridiculous studies full of lies that no reputable psychologist or social scientist would touch with a ten foot pole and when their scientific lies are exposed they play the religion card and say, “well, God didn’t create you gay.”

Just yesterday, included in the the readings from the Lectionary, which were referenced in the two sermons to which I linked, is the story of Ruth, the Moabite, the foreigner, the outcast, the despised, who - surprise! - was given the honor of becoming the great-grandmother of one of the greatest heroes in the Hebrew Testament, King David.

From another reading is the story of Jesus healing ten lepers. Lepers were only permitted in the company of other lepers, but Jesus allowed the lepers to approach him, and he sent them on their way telling them they would be healed. And all ten were healed, but only one returned to thank Jesus, a Samaritan, a twofold outcast, one of the despised that the Jewish people had nothing to do with. Jesus sent the Samaritan off again with the words "...your faith has made you well."

That Ruth and the Samaritan were amongst the despised by the people at the time was of no consequence to God's/Jesus' decision to mark them with favor.

Are there lessons in these stories from the Scriptures for us today about how we view and act toward those who may be numbered amongst the despised, the outcasts, the different, those who are not like us? May we claim that our compassion is godly, if it is offered with conditions attached?

Thanks to Cathy for the link.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, MY CANADIAN FRIENDS!!

BONNE ACTION DE GRÂCE, MES AMIS CANADIENS!!

From B4tea:

Thanksgiving Day in Canada has been celebrated since 1957, on the second Monday of October. It is a chance to give thanks for good harvest and other fortunes in the past year for the people. People have a day off work on this day, though perhaps religious in origin, Thanksgiving is identified as a secular holiday now. Many stores and other organizations and businesses are also closed on this day.

Canadians eat their Thanksgiving meal with turkey and mashed potatoes and other meal such as pumpkin, corn ears and pecan nuts. At this time of year, a common image is seen of a cornucopia, or horn, filled with seasonal fruit and vegetables.

The Thanksgiving weekend is a well-liked time to take a short autumn vacation. Many other popular activities are also done including outdoor breaks to admire the spectacular colors of the Canadian autumn; hiking; and fishing. While who are the Fans of the teams in the Canadian Football League may expend their part of the weekend watching the Thanksgiving Day Classic matches.

TWO EXCELLENT SERMONS FOR 10-10-10

The preachers both speak of punch lines from stories from Scripture, having to do with foreigners, stories which were shocking in their own time.

For no particular reason, starting with Caminante, who preaches from the story of the healing of the ten lepers. (Luke 17:11-19)

The gospel has saved up the punch-line for this moment. In one short sentence, it informs us, ‘And he was a Samaritan.’A Samaritan.

Not only once cast out of society by virtue of his leprosy, but twice cast out because of his nationality. A doubly impure, scorned man, someone whom the boundaries would have permanently kept out.

Yet Jesus ministers to this man with the same grace as he has to the other nine. Moreover, he tells the Samaritan something he does not tell the other nine: ‘Your faith has made you well.’ A stronger translation is, ‘Your faith has brought you salvation.'

And the sermon titled "Shame On You" by Tobias Haller at In a Godward Direction on his sermon blog. Tobias preaches from the story of Ruth and Naomi (Ruth 1:(1-7)8-19a) and from the story of the ten lepers. (Luke 17:11-19)

On Ruth, the Moabite, who follows her mother-in-law back to Judah after both have become widows.

Ruth does in the end discover a distant relative of her late husband; she finds Boaz, who because of Ruth’s loyalty to him and to Naomi marries her. She bears him a son — and that son, it turns out right at the end of the story, is none other than the grandfather of King David!

Imagine how that punch-line must have sounded in the ears of proud Judeans: David’s great-grandmother was an immigrant Moabite — a foreign-born member of one of Israel’s ancestral enemies. For Moabites had once long before treated the wandering Israelites themselves as lower than dirt and wouldn’t let them so much as set a foot in Moab on their roundabout way to the promised land; and in latter days the songs of Israel would declare, “Moab is my washbasin” — and yet here it turns out that our greatest hero, David the King, David the Deliverer, is part Moabite, and wouldn’t even have been born at all had it not been for the loyalty of a woman of Moab, Ruth, in not turning back from Naomi. And perhaps a feeling of shame might rise in the heart of any Israelite who had ever mistreated a foreigner.

Of course, I urge you to read both sermons in their entirety. The sermons serve us well as they point us toward an examination of our present attitudes and actions toward not just immigrants, but all those in our society who are viewed as different, other, not like us.

STORY OF THE DAY - BACKUP PLAN

Sometimes I think we should bury all
our money in a hole & go back to
enjoying life again, he said. It'd
probably be a good idea to make a map
of where the hole was just in case it
didn't work out though.

From StoryPeople.

AN OVERDOSE OF CUTE

I'M SO CUTE, THEY WONT MIND IF I SHRED THIS!!

 

WHAT PART OF QUIET DIDN'T YOU UNDERSTAND?!

 

OK, NOW DON'T MOVE FOR ABOUT A WEEK!

 

SORRY MOM, I'M NEW AT THIS!



I REALLY NEED TO GET GOING, BUT JUST CAN'T SEEM TO GET MOTIVATED....

All together now, AWWWWW!!!

Thanks to Doug.