Praying, Peace, and Love

I went to work yesterday evening then went out to eat after closing. This means I came home very late... Around 12:30.

Expecting a quiet house, I found my Mom and sister both still up and rather upset. Popo, our 11 year-old Golden Retriever, has a mass under his face that is obstructing his breathing and right eye. He was struggling to breath through his nose, looked exhausted but seemed unable to sleep.

We knew that there was nothing we could do about it so late. We're in touch with the vet and he told us that Popo needs a CT or MRI scan, which no vet in Bowling Green can provide. So, we prayed, turned on a CD with scriptures about healing, and went to bed. I was still praying when I fell asleep.

Popo seemed much better this morning. At 8AM, he was sound asleep in his kennel, breathing heavily. He has not moved around much today, but we know he's not in pain and he seems peaceful. He is a little disoriented because he can only see out of one eye.

Today was the first day the vet used the dreaded word... Cancer. He said it's either cancer or fungus. The CT or MRI will show us what is going on. We needed to find a vet with the equipment to do the scan. He (our vet here in Bowling Green) said he would make some calls. We made some calls of our own to fellow pet-owners in Nashville, looking for an animal hospital with the right tools. We prayed.

In a matter of two phone calls, Mom found a vet in Nashville that can do a CT scan for Popo and... (this part will blow your mind).... They're located on 12th Avenue South. Our condo in the Gulch is on 12th Avenue South. My brother's college preparatory tutorial is on 12th Avenue South. My Dad's Nashville office is on 12th Avenue South. My favorite burger place is on 12th Avenue South. In other words, this place couldn't be in a better location.

The bad news was that this scan could cost an estimated $700. That's just the scan. If he has to have surgery, recovery, etc., the costs will increase. Mom and Dad are talking about how far they are willing to go and how much they are willing to invest in him. It's grim but necessary.

I have felt surprisingly peaceful throughout this ordeal. Some people do not believe animals go to heaven, but I think they do. I think that our dearest pets will be there for us - waiting just inside the front door of the mansions Jesus prepared for us, tails wagging and big smiles. While I want Popo to remain here with us, I also know that my life is full of love and peace. I remain hopeful. God loves and provides for the smallest animal, how much more will He love and provide for those animals that have loved us, His children? If Popo's time is drawing near, my prayer is that God give him comfort and peace, that he would not suffer. He is a God of miracles, however, and we will continue to pray and minister to our puppy. God has already provided for Popo - the needed equipment is just down the street from our condo. He is on our side and ready to love us to the end - even by loving our pets.

Tonight, Popo is already asleep. I hope he has sweet dreams of chasing tennis balls and carrying his favorite stuffed animal.

God in Time

The Christian walk is high-maintenance. By high-maintenance, I mean that it will require a lot of time, effort and dedication. The rewards are outstanding and nothing else in this world can compare. However, if you're looking for a religion that only requires a few hours each month, Christianity isn't the way to go. With Christianity, you're working with a living God, not just a set of rules. Relationships, especially your relationship with God, take time and regular attention to maintain. As you pour time into your relationship with God, you find yourself wanting more. You fall in love with Him, because He is already in love with you. I say all this because one of my current methods of maintenance of my relationship with God - a current method of spending time with Him - has been through reading Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. Since the purpose of this blog is to share things with you, that includes sharing my current readings and the parts that strike me as particularly captivating/interesting/striking/wonderful! Here ya go!

I learned some really cool things about God the other day. Have you ever thought about God's relationship with Time? How does it work? He obviously thinks very little of Time, since He has eternal life. But C.S. Lewis took this thought a bit further.

"Almost certainly God is not in Time. His life does not consist of moments following one another. If a million people are praying to Him at ten-thirty tonight, He need not listen to them all in that one little snippet we call ten-thirty. Ten-thirty - and every other moment from the beginning of the world - is always the Present for Him.

That is difficult, I know. Let me try to give something, not the same, but a bit like it. Suppose I am writing a novel. I write 'Mary laid down her work; next moment came a knock at the door!' For Mary who has to live in the imaginary time of my story there is no interval between putting down the work and hearing the knock. But I, who am Mary's maker, do not live in that imaginary time at all. Between writing the first half of that sentence and the second, I might sit down for three hours and think steadily about Mary. I could think about Mary is if she were the only character int he book and for as long as I pleased, and the hours I spent doing so would not appear in Mary's time (the time inside the story) at all. . .

God is not hurried along in the Time-stream of this universe any more than an author is hurried along int he imaginary time of his own novel. He has infinite attention to spare for each one of us. He does not have to deal with us in the mass. You are as much alone with Him as if you were the only being He had ever created. When Christ died, He died for you individually just as much as if you had been the only man in the world."

I'll be chewing on that one for a while.