Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
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Vol. 14 – No. 4312 October 27, 2012
Thought for the week: "A ship in port is safe, but that's not what ships are built for." – Grace Hopper
"The superior man blames himself. The inferior man blames others." – Don Shula
"Character may be manifested in the great moments, but it is made in the small ones." – Phillips Brooks
"Though you are an earthen vessel, God designed you to be filled with heavenly contents." – Sara Young
"Correction does much, but encouragement does more." – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"Church must be relevant to God, not to society." – Unknown
"The current administration's effort to force religious institutions to adopt practices that violate their conscience is perhaps the biggest threat to religious liberty in our nation's history. It should spur every serious Christian into action." – Chuck Colson in Manhattan Declaration
Freedom and I have been together 11 years this summer. She came in as a baby in 1998 with two broken wings. Her left wing doesn't open all the way even after surgery, it was broken in 4 places. She's my baby.
When Freedom came in, she could not stand. She was emaciated and covered in lice. We made the decision to give her a chance at life, so I took her to the vet's office. From then on, I was always around her. We had her in a huge dog carrier with the top off, and it was loaded up with shredded newspaper for her to lay in. I used to sit and talk to her, urging her to live, to fight; and she would lay there looking at me with those big brown eyes. We also had to tube feed her for weeks.
This went on for 4-6 weeks, and by then she still couldn't stand. It got to the point where the decision was made to euthanize her if she couldn't stand in a week. You know you don't want to cross that line between torture and rehab, and it looked like death was winning. She was going to be put down that Friday, and I was supposed to come in on that Thursday afternoon. I didn't want to go to the center that Thursday, because I couldn't bear the thought of her being euthanized; but I went anyway, and when I walked in everyone was grinning from ear to ear. I went immediately back to her cage; and there she was, standing on her own, a big beautiful eagle. She was ready to live. I was just about in tears by then. That was a very good day.
We knew she could never fly, so the director asked me to glove train her. I got her used to the glove, and then to jesses, and we started doing education programs for schools in western Washington. We wound up in the newspapers, radio and some TV. Miracle Pets even did a show about us.
In the spring of 2000, I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. I had Stage Three, which is not good (one major organ plus everywhere), so I wound up doing eight months of chemo. Lost my hair —the whole bit. I missed a lot of work. When I felt good enough, I would go to Sarvey and take Freedom out for walks. Freedom would also come to me in my dreams and help me fight the cancer. This happened time and time again.
Fast forward to November 2000
The day after Thanksgiving, I went in for my last checkup. I was told that if the cancer was not all gone after eight rounds of chemo, then my last option was a stem cell transplant. Anyway, they did the tests; and I had to come back Monday for the results. I went in Monday, and I was told that all the cancer was gone.
So the first thing I did was get up to Sarvey and take the big girl out for a walk. It was misty and cold. I went to her flight and jessed her up, and we went out front to the top of the hill. I hadn't said a word to Freedom, but somehow she knew. She looked at me and wrapped both her wings around me to where I could feel them pressing in on my back (I was engulfed in eagle wings), and she touched my nose with her beak and stared into my eyes, and we just stood there like that for I don't know how long. That was a magic moment. We have been soul mates ever since she came in. This is a very special bird.
On a side note: I have had people who were sick come up to us when we are out, and Freedom has some kind of hold on them. I once had a guy who was terminal come up to us and I let him hold her. His knees just about buckled and he swore he could feel her power course through his body. I have so many stories like that.
I never forget the honor I have of being so close to such a magnificent spirit as Freedom.
"But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint" (Isaiah 40:31).
Ed. Note: When Jesus returns and sets up his millennium Kingdom reign on earth, and the earth is renewed to the pre-fall of man days, I think perhaps that we will all have this special connection, or re-connection, with the animal world. Worth thinking about.
"Without God there is no virtue because there is no prompting of the conscience ... without God there is a coarsening of the society; without God democracy will not and cannot long endure... America needs God more than God needs America. If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a Nation gone under."
"A 50-Year-old construction worker in Knoxville, Tennessee, survived his January 14 impalement by a 3-foot-long, 3-inch-thick metal rod that fell off of a bridge and which went point-first through the man's skull and neck, coursed down his trunk, and stopped only when completely embedded in his body.
"He was semiconscious at the scene but talkative later at the University of Tennessee Medical Center. The man was not wearing the required hard hat." Knoxville News Sentinel, 01.16.02
Thought: Christian brother or sister, are you wearing your hard hat?
"And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" (Ephesians 6:17).
My mother died of cancer when I was 18. The disease was detected a year earlier during her pregnancy with her sixth child. On the day she delivered, both breasts were removed.
During her illness, our household became increasingly gloomy. It's hard to watch someone you love get sicker and sicker. But my mom was always a pleasure to be with, and she struggled to remain so despite her deteriorating condition. She'd joke, tell stories of better times, and laugh in an effort to cheer us up. But it never worked. We hung onto our despair as if we had to be visibly miserable to prove we loved her.
I didn't appreciate then how difficult it must have been for her. In such situations, cheerfulness is neither natural nor easy. It requires a willful act of selfless courage. She was sick, but she wanted us to feel better.
In my lifetime I've known only a few people like my mom, people so strong and caring that, for our sakes as well as their own, they refuse to surrender to grief or fear. Rather than indulge themselves in self-pity or bask in the sympathy of others, they make a conscious choice to spread good cheer rather than gloom.
I now realize that our choice to spend our last months with my mom in a constant state of solemn sadness was unkind. She hated seeing us unhappy, and she felt guilty.
I wish we had been strong enough and wise enough to be more cheerful.
I wish we had spent every moment with her aggressively enjoying the time we had.
I wish we had thought more about her happiness than our unhappiness.
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
"Dear Brothers [and sisters], is your life full of difficulties and temptations? Then be happy, for when the way is rough, your patience has a chance to grow. So let it grow, and don't try to squirm out of your problems. For when your patience is finally in full bloom, then you will be ready for anything, strong in character, full and complete."1
In almost every trial we face God is seeking to "tell" us something. Sometimes the only time he can get our attention is when we're hurting sufficiently to slow us down so we will stop and listen.
That has certainly been true in my life. On one occasion, God used an accident and a time in the hospital to get my attention and to speak to me. The decision I made as a result ended up radically changing the total course of my life. Another time God used a major crisis and loss to expand my work. He used another setback to get me started in writing. That was more than four decades ago and I'm still writing!
When you are hurting, you can be sure that God has something to say to you, too—something for your good. Ask him to help you hear what it is and to give you the courage to do what he is telling/leading you to do. Whatever it is, you can be certain it will enrich your life in one way or another.
Furthermore, whatever you do, don't waste your pain. Invest it in your own growth and then in helping another fellow struggler along the way.
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, please help me to see how you want to use all the trials that come my way to help me grow and change my life for the better. And please help me never to waste my pain but to invest it wisely in my own growth and in making me a more effective helper to other fellow strugglers. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus' name, amen."
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