Lest We Forget...

Recessional

Rudyard Kipling

God of our fathers, known of old—
Lord of our far-flung battle line—
Beneath whose awful hand we hold
Dominion over palm and pine—
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!

The tumult and the shouting dies—
The Captains and the Kings depart—
Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice,
An humble and a contrite heart.
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!

Far-called our navies melt away—
On dune and headland sinks the fire—
Lo, all our pomp of yesterday
Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!
Judge of the Nations, spare us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!

If, drunk with sight of power, we loose
Wild tongues that have not Thee in awe—
Such boastings as the Gentiles use,
Or lesser breeds without the Law—
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!

For heathen heart that puts her trust
In reeking tube and iron shard—
All valiant dust that builds on dust,
And guarding calls not Thee to guard.
For frantic boast and foolish word,
Thy Mercy on Thy People, Lord!
Amen.

Isaiah 40

Comfort, comfort my people,
says your God.
² Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and proclaim to her
that her hard service has been completed,
that her sin has been paid for,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.
³ A voice of one calling:
“In the wilderness prepare
the way for the Lord^[a];
make straight in the desert
a highway for our God.^[b]
4 Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.
⁵ And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
and all people will see it together.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
⁶ A voice says, “Cry out.”
And I said, “What shall I cry?”
“All people are like grass,
and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field.
⁷ The grass withers and the flowers fall,
because the breath of the Lord blows on them.
Surely the people are grass.
⁸ The grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of our God endures forever.”
⁹ You who bring good news to Zion,
go up on a high mountain.
You who bring good news to Jerusalem,^[c]
lift up your voice with a shout,
lift it up, do not be afraid;
say to the towns of Judah,
“Here is your God!”
¹⁰ See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power,
and he rules with a mighty arm.
See, his reward is with him,
and his recompense accompanies him.
¹¹ He tends his flock like a shepherd:
He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;
he gently leads those that have young.
¹² Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,
or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?
Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket,
or weighed the mountains on the scales
and the hills in a balance?
¹³ Who can fathom the Spirit^[d] of the Lord,
or instruct the Lord as his counselor?
¹⁴ Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him,
and who taught him the right way?
Who was it that taught him knowledge,
or showed him the path of understanding?
¹⁵ Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket;
they are regarded as dust on the scales;
he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.
¹⁶ Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires,
nor its animals enough for burnt offerings.
¹⁷ Before him all the nations are as nothing;
they are regarded by him as worthless
and less than nothing.
¹⁸ With whom, then, will you compare God?
To what image will you liken him?
¹⁹ As for an idol, a metalworker casts it,
and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
and fashions silver chains for it.
²⁰ A person too poor to present such an offering
selects wood that will not rot;
they look for a skilled worker
to set up an idol that will not topple.
²¹ Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood since the earth was founded?
²² He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth,
and its people are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the heavens like a canopy,
and spreads them out like a tent to live in.
²³ He brings princes to naught
and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.
²⁴ No sooner are they planted,
no sooner are they sown,
no sooner do they take root in the ground,
than he blows on them and they wither,
and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.
²⁵ “To whom will you compare me?
Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.
²⁶ Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:
Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one
and calls forth each of them by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
not one of them is missing.

²⁷ Why do you complain, Jacob?
Why do you say, Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord;
my cause is disregarded by my God”?
²⁸ Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
²⁹ He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
³⁰ Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
³¹ but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

 

Lunaediesophobia

Quite a mouthful isn't it? Lunaediesophobia - the fear of Mondays.

Why does Monday always seem to get the bad rap?

I think it is not so much Monday as it seems to be a phobia towards facing tomorrow...a new day, a new week. I think most of us live in a world where we are controlled by our situations, our emotions, other people in charge not letting us feel a normalcy about our lives!

I am thinking of that old song, "Rainy Days and Mondays" the tag line in the chorus is "Rainy days and Mondays always get me down". It's as if we are all going around singing Barry Manilow songs where there is a dirge like quality to the music and the lyrics but always the big drum ending with a glimmer of hope.

Did you know that have the ability to do something about it? Yes you do! I believe it is a battle that takes place in the mind. Almost all emotional issues, responses, the things we like and dislike even hate begins in our thinking, our attitude. Formed by many things from our past, it can be reformed.

Paul says in Romans 12:1, 2
With eyes wide open to the mercies of God, I beg you, my brothers, as an act of intelligent worship, to give him your bodies, as a living sacrifice, consecrated to him and acceptable by him. Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands and moves towards the goal of true maturity. (J.B. Philips)

Chuck Swindoll says it best:

THE IMPORTANCE OF ATTITUDE
by Charles R. Swindoll

Philippians 2:3-5

This may shock you, but I believe the single most significant decision I can make on a day-to-day basis is my choice of attitude. It is more important than my past, my education, my bankroll, my successes or failures, fame or pain, what other people think of me, or say about me, my circumstances, or my position. The attitude I choose keeps me going or cripples my progress. It alone fuels my fire or assaults my hope. When my attitudes are right, there’s no barrier too high, no valley too deep, no dream too extreme, no challenge too great for me.

Yet we must admit that we spend more of our time concentrating and fretting over the things that can’t be changed than we do giving attention to the one that we can change, our choice of attitude. Stop and think about some of the things that suck up our attention and energy, all of them inescapable: the weather, the wind, people’s action and criticisms, who won or lost the game, delays at airports or waiting rooms, x-ray results, gas and food costs.

Quit wasting energy fighting the inescapable and turn your energy to keeping the right attitude. Those things we can’t do anything about shouldn’t even come up in our minds; the alternative is ulcers, cancer, sourness, depression.

Let’s choose each day and every day to keep an attitude of faith and joy and belief and compassion.

Take charge of your own mind!

 

So what are you going to do? Are you going to mope, whine, and cry about that which you cannot change...or are you going to be the change for your life and throw off the shackles of lunaediesophobia

Sparky

His name is Sparky. I want to say he’s a dog. But to say he is just a dog is like saying that the Super Bowl is just a football game.

If you know me well you know that I am not the biggest fan of pets. I am not cruel or anything…just never been one to go overboard too much when it comes to domesticated animals.

But if you do know me well, you get a pet in front of me who is the coolest pet, the “best friend” that people sometimes call their pets and I am hooked. That is Sparky.

He could be the most annoying animal…whiney, barking, (my nickname for him is “barky”), never completely, fully house trained…yeah he could be very annoying to me. And I will confess, at times if he were mine, I might have considered foster care for the amount of care he needed. He is like a little child…even at 15+ yrs. old, (my daughter got him from a shelter when he was about one year old), this past Christmas he acted a like a little baby. In our home for less than a few hours…he made his mark on our carpet. But during his visit this past Christmas, for some reason, he would come and rest his head on my feet while I sat and watched television. Not once but several times throughout their visit this happened. I did not understand how much I will miss that now.

Reminds me of this past summer. Taking Jakob to spend some time with his sister, we stayed at the Embassy Suites in Birmingham, AL. They allowed dogs. Around 1:00 a.m. he is scratching at the door of our room telling someone he wanted to go potty. I was elected because I was the one who heard him and was awake. I leashed him up and left our room on the fifth floor. We left the elevator and if you are familiar with Embassy Suites they have immaculate garden areas, running streams through the lobby. Well Spark somehow thought he was outside and got out of the grip of his leash and started to make his mark in the garden area. I dragged him literally from the space spewing gravel, dirt, and bark all over the lobby trying to get him outside. I was more than a little upset. By the time we got outside he hardly had anything left. He just looked up at me as if to say, “Okay lets go back to the room and to bed.”

My daughter called us today to tell us that Sparky is sick. The Vet says it seems like congestive heart failure and they are trying to decide the next course of action. (While writing this late at night my daughter called us to talk about what was happening, how to move forward, what to say to our two little grandchildren).

I am sad. I a non-pet person find my heart overwhelmed not just for my daughter and her family or other members of my family who know and love and who Sparky has been a part of their life. I am sad because I care for him. He has broken through into my heart and I pray now that God will help Sparky and give wisdom to all those in deciding his care.

The author of Marley and Me writes:

“A dog has no use for fancy cars or big homes or designer clothes. Status symbol means nothing to him. A waterlogged stick will do just fine. A dog judges others not by their color or creed or class but by who they are inside. A dog doesn't care if you are rich or poor, educated or illiterate, clever or dull. Give him your heart and he will give you his. It was really quite simple, and yet we humans, so much wiser and more sophisticated, have always had trouble figuring out what really counts and what does not.”

“Such short little lives our pets have to spend with us, and they spend most of it waiting for us to come home each day. It is amazing how much love and laughter they bring into our lives and even how much closer we become with each other because of them.”

And his final words to Marley:

“You remember how we were always saying what a pain you are-that you're the world's worst dog? Don't believe it. Don't believe any of it for a minute. 'Cause you know we couldn't find a better dog. You know what made you such a great dog-is you loved us every day, no matter what. That's an amazing thing. You know how much we love you? We love you so much. I love you more than anything. I don't know exactly where we go from here...but I want you to remember you're a great dog, Marley. You're a great dog.”

Sparky…I love you and you are a GREAT dog!

Donald R. Goodman

I just received a phone call from my Mom, telling me that my sister's father in law just passed away. Donald R. Goodman. Born with a strong work ethic, Don Sr., as I called him, was a man of character and care. Justice too marked his life, always wanting to see people treated fairly and honestly.
I met him after coming home from the Philippines as a missionary. I started working at the family roofing business, Ohrt & Goodman. Started in 1875, Ohrt & Goodman had a great reputation in the Western NY area in service and quality. Don Sr. showed that in everything he did. If you were a new customer, He treated you well and fairly. If you were an old customer you thought you were royalty.

After a couple of months on roofs, I transferred into the office as Ohrt & Goodman's "secretary", handling a lot of the office responsibilities and of course making sure Don Sr. was always served well and happy. Every morning I brought him his paper and a buttered alligator roll. He loved my coffee, (this is where I started to drink real coffee, real strong...).

He would review estimates that needed doing always taking the past customers he knew and because of his age, the single story roofs. One story sticks out is when Don Sr. had a call to do a garage roof for an old friend. His age again was showing as he forgot the address of the residence. He called me and gave me the name asking me to look up the address, (this is before GPS and Google Maps), I turned to the phone book found the name, gave him the address.

He then measured the roof, ordered the shingles for the next day and put one of our crews on it for the next day.

I am sitting in the office and get a call from someone who asked why we were putting a new roof on his garage...turned out their was a Sr. and a Jr. with the same last name living not too far from each other...I gave Don Sr. the Jr.s address.

We fixed the problem and I was upset and worried about my job...I never heard anything form Don Sr. though he might have had cause to get mad.

He was a member of the Lion's club and so part of my job was to help with Lion's club projects too. Charitable events, give aways and fund raising things..I think my 12 years in charitable work was sparked in part by Don Sr.s work and him involving me.

He loved his family so much. My sister was treated like his own daughter and his grand kids? They were the apple of his eye.

In Genesis 25:8, we read, "Then Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people"

Full of years speaks of the fullness of one's life. How full each day, week, month, and year was in purpose and fulfillment. That is how I view Don Sr.

I am sad and yet celebrate Donald R. Goodman's life. I will miss Don Sr. very much and my prayers go out to the entire family!

A Scoundrel experiencing a need for God.....

I was praying for my family and friends in need today....and when I got to Jakob I experienced a refreshing reminder of his name sake, Jacob, son of Isaac.
My son is not a scoundrel..but Jacob son of Isaac was such a man. Conniving, tricking, stealing, lying, cheating...all these to try and receive some type of blessing from God.
When in the middle of the night in the midst of fear, self-inflicted trouble and pain, he wrestled with the Angel of the Lord and said, "I will not stop, I will not let go until I know I am blessed..."
That very night he was changed, physically, emotionally and most importantly spiritually. He went from Jacob, meaning scoundrel and cheat, to Israel, a "Prince with God"
In our most fearful and terrible times of life we wrestle with life not realizing that we are wrestling with God! We wrestle and we fight and we try to hold on and survive, when all the while we are in the presence of God in our struggle and God is wanting us to verbalize what we really need and want, a blessing from Him, a sense of His presence in the midst of the battle...and He wants to change not our circumstances but us. He wants us to become princes and princesses, His children who do not wrestle and fight, but who with faith can come to Him and tell Him how we feel, what we want, and show we know it is He who will provide all that is necessary for our life.
Let us let down our defenses, our restrictions, the walls that we think keep out the "stuff" of life that hurts and with arms wide open embrace the One who loves us, wants to help us, and wants more than anything for us to trust Him to do the work necessary to transform and change us from scoundrels to royalty!

I have never been much of a pet person...

But then we all are different. And once in a while there are stories of people who love pets and I am inspried!

Marley and Me...just watched...again...for the umpteenth time, (when I get inspired and a movie moves my spirit and soul, I like to watch it a lot....) and looked up the story of the real life Marley and his owner John Grogan. Found these great quotes...almost makes me want to go out and get a dog..(I said almost...).

"A person can learn a lot from a dog, even a loopy one like ours. Marley taught me about living each day with unbridled exuberance and joy, about seizing the moment and following your heart. He taught me to appreciate the simple things-a walk in the woods, a fresh snowfall, a nap in a shaft of winter sunlight. And as he grew old and achy, he taught me about optimism in the face of adversity. Mostly, he taught me about friendship and selflessness and, above all else, unwavering loyalty."

"A dog has no use for fancy cars or big homes or designer clothes. Status symbol means nothing to him. A waterlogged stick will do just fine. A dog judges others not by their color or creed or class but by who they are inside. A dog doesn't care if you are rich or poor, educated or illiterate, clever or dull. Give him your heart and he will give you his. It was really quite simple, and yet we humans, so much wiser and more sophisticated, have always had trouble figuring out what really counts and what does not. As I wrote that farewell column to Marley, I realized it was all right there in front of us, if only we opened our eyes. Sometimes it took a dog with bad breath, worse manners, and pure intentions to help us see."

". . . owning a dog always ended with this sadness because dogs just don't live as long as people do."

"It's just the most amazing thing to love a dog, isn't it? It makes our relationships with people seem as boring as a bowl of oatmeal."

"Dogs are great. Bad dogs, if you can really call them that, are perhaps the greatest of them all."

"I had never thought of Marley as any kind of model, I was aware that maybe he held the secret for a good life. Never slow down, never look back, live each day w/ adolescent verve and spunk and curiosity and playfulness."

"In a dog's life, some plaster would fall, some cushions would open, some rugs would shred. Like any relationship, this one had its costs. They were costs we came to accept and balance against the joy and amusement and protection and companionship he gave us."

"Such short little lives our pets have to spend with us, and they spend most of it waiting for us to come home each day. It is amazing how much love and laughter they bring into our lives and even how much closer we become with each other because of them"

And their final moments together John Grogan and Marley....
"Then I dropped my forehead against his and sat there for a long time, as if I could telegraph a message through our two skulls, from my brain to his. I wanted to make him understand some things.
You know all that stuff we’ve always said about you?” I whispered. “What a total pain you are? Don’t believe it. Don’t believe it for a minute, Marley.” He needed to know that, and something more, too. There was something I had never told him, that no one ever had. I wanted him to hear it before he went. "Marley,” I said. “You are a great dog."

John Grogan