Bear Encounter – Alaska

On a recent visit from my church friends Brian and Casey we talked a lot about bear encounters. I only have one story. In 2010 my wife and I went to visit our son Tom who lived in Alaska. He was stationed there at Fort Richardson. We rented a small cabin near Seward for a few days. That is where these pictures are from.

It was warm enough that we had the doors and windows open. I noticed 2 bear cubs going by out front. I grabbed the camera and due to my MS ran into the door rather than going through it. When I finally got outside the cubs were passed and were near the storage cabin the owner had. I took aim with my camera and then I noticed mama bear. Realizing the danger I had to go back to the cabin. The rest of the pictures were taken from the bathroom window. We were projected by the screen (not really much protection if mama got upset).

Tom still teases me about how unsafe this really was. He reminds me what I would have told him or his brothers if they had done this. Mama bear tried getting some garbage but could not get the bear proof garbage can open. She picked it up and threw it down a number of times. We described the bear and showed the pictures to the owner and he said it was a grizzly.

2nd Timothy

I’ve been reading through the epistles and have recently been reading in 2^nd Timothy. 2^nd Timothy gives instructions to young Timothy because already the early church is showing the effects of what happens when man is given responsibility by God. Most would normally expect that Christianity would only produce good fruit but the true is always counterfeited and used for conflicting reasons. 2^nd Timothy deals with how he should expect this and how deal with it as a Christian.

In chapter 3 verse 5 to expect the following from those who appear to be Christians: “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

Paul solution for Timothy was one soars – the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” 2 Timothy 3:5, 15-17 KJV

The thing that stands out to me in these last verses is that Scripture is good for reproof and correction. This is why the Christian should be in the word no matter how old he is. I need reproof and correction all the time. It is the only solution to wandering away with my own thoughts on God’s things.

MS Reactions

I have read that some of my MS friends if have had negative reactions to their disability. In some cases the symptoms are not obvious. In these cases coworkers, acquaintances and even friends question the disabilities some of these people face. I would say I have never had an issue with that other than one time at Walmart. I was using the cart as a walker and dragging my left leg along. Of course I was slow and getting in the way of this lady who was in a hurry.

Of course as I was leaving she was behind me. I was in her way again. She yelled “slow people” in a very negative voice and rolled her eyes at me. I have to say it hurt my feelings. Other than that I can’t say I’ve dealt with what my MS friends have had to deal with. I think it’s because my disease has progressed very fast and it is obvious each step of the way that I am disabled.

To me the strangest reactions have come from medical professionals. When we went down to the University of Iowa for the preliminary things needed for my rhizotomy each group we saw acted as if they had never seen a person in a wheelchair before. It ended up that Janette transferred me quite a number of times from my chair to their equipment. It seems really strange to us that they were so unfamiliar with people in wheelchairs and in my case close to being a quadriplegic. To be precise my neurologist said I am a Quadraparetic. That is the official term but in a practical way am a quadriplegic now.

We decided that was a lot of effort on Janette’s part when the medical people should be doing the work. For my procedure Wednesday we decided to let them figure it out. In ended up taking 4 of them to put me in a sling and use a Hoyer lift. Once I was in the hospital bed it was easy for them to transfer me from the bed to the operating table. I think it only took 2 of them to get me from the bed back into my chair. I know each person is different but you would think the people at the hospitals would be more familiar with dealing with this disabled people. I guess not.

Procedure

Bladder Stones

I had my procedure this morning at St. Luke’s Hospital. Everything went well and the doctor had no problems. I’ve been home for a few hours and have eaten already. Hopefully I don’t get nauseous like I did after my trigeminal procedure earlier this year.

They use a different anesthesia and it was more of a sedative than a general anesthesia. The anesthesiologist said I would have about 0 recovery time through that method. Took longer to get ready to go to the hospital than it did for the procedure. I was hardly there long enough to tease the nurses.

Thank you for all of your concerns and prayers!

Useless Kitty?

Last weekend a fly got in the house. It was a pretty big one and buzzed around. Atlas was here and he tried to catch it but he was too slow. Macy also tried to catch it and she would follow it around waiting for a land. Then she stopped and walked up to it. Too slow to catch it. Every day she would try to catch this fly with no success.

Yesterday she was on the back of the couch and she was scowling at me. I made eye contact and told her “you need to get rid of that fly”. I told her she needed to earn her way around here by doing something. While scolding her I reminded her she got a spider 5 years ago. It’s not too much to ask that she do something once every 5 years.

Her reaction was to close her eyes and pretend to be asleep. The more I scolded her the more it was a waste of time. She Was not listening and her eyes closed. Strangely today the fly is gone. Perhaps she did nothing and it just left. Maybe she took it down and earned her keep. I guess we’ll never know for sure but her attitude is that she is still royalty and we are lucky to have her!

Life is a Struggle

Today my friends from church Brian and Casey stopped over for a visit. Brian is on staff at Faith Bible Church and Casey is studying at Trinity Bible College. Casey will be moving soon and I hope to see him another time before he leaves. Casey is a fly fisherman. We ended up talking about trout fishing and bear encounters. We ended with prayer for my procedure tomorrow and my troubles and struggles in general. Even though we didn’t talk much about the Lords things I am still very encouraged.

I know my MS makes me face struggles other people don’t. Everyone still struggles with something. Life is always a struggle no matter who or where you are. I’ve been struggling spiritually and emotionally for a few weeks dwelling on my medical procedures that never seem to end. I have been enjoying reading in the books of Paul writing to Timothy and these verses turned out to me. The 1^st one reminds me that fear is not of God. Is also given us a spirit of power and love. He also includes a sound mind because I mind fixated on the Lord is truly a “sound mind”.

“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind

The portion of the following reminds me it’s not what I believe but it’s who I believe. The apostle Paul suffered many things, too many to list here, but it was who he believed and was persuaded by that. When I trust Jesus I find peace in my heart.

 nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” 2 Timothy 1:7, 12 KJV

Birthday Party

Yesterday we celebrated Kroy’s 1^st birthday. One of our nephew’s on my wife’s side and his fiancés son turned 1. Kroy has a lot of cousins ranging in ages from over 1 to about 8 years old. It was so enjoyable for me to watch the action of all these cousins. They helped him open his presents. Kroy received a kids basketball hoop and that was the head of the party. He loved the orange ball and the other kids enjoyed making hoops.
I really love seeing these children’s energy and them tearing around. They seem to be out of control but never seem to have collisions. One little boy just loved the bouquet of balloons. He would stand in the middle of the bouquet and just bat at them and laugh. Most of them were boys but one little girl was fascinated by the balloons getting hit around.
It’s nice to get out once in a while and find a spot where I’m not in the way. Some places we go are too crowded and people trip over my chair. I don’t really enjoy that. Yesterday I just planted myself and watch the action.

Chancyville Incident – Book Report

A Few weeks ago I finished a book called “Chancyville Incident. This book as stuck with me and has given me a different outlook related to the slave issues that have historically plagued our country and continue to today. It is affected me in my outline as much as the book “Black Like Me” that I read in high school. It’s not an easy book to describe but the main character is a historian with a past that includes some important and fascinating individuals. In this book he outlines things about issues that pertain to black people before, during and after the Civil War.

One of the main things I got from this book was a different outlook on the Emancipation Proclamation. Obviously it eliminated slavery. In this book it is clear that the proclamation was made with the hall that the southern states would cease the war to avoid the effect of this proclamation. The idea I got was that the southern states lay down arms they could keep their slaves. This did not work and so the slaves were “emancipated”. There was a difference between an emancipated slave and a free man.

Freemen had rights but needed papers to prove they were legitimately freemen. The sad fact they came to this book was that the emancipated slaves were not given free status across the board. Each state had rules pertaining to “Negroes” these were northern states as well as southern. An emancipated slave did not have a vote. They were required to continually prove they had legal and legitimate employment. If not they were subject to being jailed.

I remember the civil rights movement of the 1960s. The setting of this book was 100 years earlier. It’s sad that 100 years after the federal government had to step in and provide what was promised hundred years earlier. It’s also true you cannot legislate attitudes. Many of these attitudes toward Blacks continue to today. This applies to North and South. This book was very good and I look forward each day to reading further. I would highly recommend this book.

Phil’s blog

I thought when I started this Blog I thought that I would have something to post 2 to 4 times a week. I thought it might lean toward Bible lessons I’ve learned. I am finding that I am running out of new material. There is a disabled woman named Johnny Erickson Tada. She is had a radio Christian ministry for as long as I can remember. She has an Internet ministry that includes a daily devotional. She is very uplifting and always positive. I am not so much.
You can find her ministry at:
http://www.joniandfriends.org/

Hopefully more topics will come to me but to be honest right now I have been struggling. My mood is not been very good. Today it is little better than yesterday. I find I have to have a new procedure to remove the stones in my bladder. It is not a big procedure, it is done by scope and laser. The thing that wears me out is all the doctor visits. Added diagnostic visit earlier this week. Then I have to have a pre-op physical (again, the one I had in February for my rhizotomy is not new enough). This means another visit to the doctor Friday where they do the exact same things they did in February. Annoying. Then another visit Wednesday at St. Luke’s. One of the biggest hassles is that someone has to take off work to take me all these places. It needs to be a relative because I need someone with authority to give them direction. I have trouble speaking, I can’t write my name and I don’t remember what they say. I’m sure it will go all right but all these visits and depending on others, inconveniencing them, both forwear me out.

Feline Intimidation

We had visitors over the weekend. Atlas was among the visitors. My wife took these photos. Macy no longer has any fear of him and beats on his nose if he gets too close. One photo shows him looking at her wondering if she is going to come and chase him out. After she lays down he looks at my wife as if to say “is it all right with the kitty if I stay here”?
Later in the weekend she was laying in the hallway. He got up and went to go down the hallway and she would not move. He was too intimidated to go by her. It’s pretty funny.

Government 101 – You Gotta Be Kidding Me

I learned in junior high about the government organization in the United States. We were corrected immediately and told we do not live in a true democracy. There never has been a true democracy outside of ancient Greece. We live in a Democratic Republic. There were numerous reasons for this and most of them good. If we lived in a true democracy small states would become insignificant in an election. a 51% majority could dominate 49% of the population.

To make things more equal and keep a measure of state sovereignty our government was organized with checks and balances that would not exist in a true democracy. We elect representatives that then go to the different branches of government and represent their constituents. We have functioned like this for over 200 years.

Now one presidential candidate is carping about the results of a Colorado primary. He said we are a democracy aren’t we. Our teacher in government 101 made it clear this was not true. Are there people that really think that all of a sudden magically we become a democracy? I would say these people have not studied the history or government. It’s sad that one of our presidential candidates has not grasped this basic back about our government.

Also what makes it worse is his followers are threatening violence against representatives that don’t support him. Bugs Bunny would say “what a maroon”.

What’s even worse is that the primary system is not dictated by the federal government. Each state is allowed to establish their own procedure to produce their representative. Some states are set up as all or nothing. Some are proportional. It seems one major candidate has not grasped the very procedure he is trying to use to get elected. All I can say is sad, sad!
It seems many people are unaware that the purpose of the party nominations is not to get a popularity contest for that party but to nominate someone who has a chance of winning the national election. Now I read that the candidate in question “hopes there is no violence”. He really should condemn the thought of violence. By “hoping” what he is really saying is go ahead and create a climate of intimidation that works for me! This is going from sad scary!

Cuddle Kitty

The other day my wife and I noticed on Facebook a video of puppies that were available and looked similar to the ones that one of her sisters and her husband had a litter of earlier this year. So we got on the Cedar Valley humane shelter website to investigate. We don’t think these dogs were their puppies. There were 3 of them named Ennie, Minnie and Moe and were siblings. They looked a little lighter in color than the litter in question. We were sure they were not my sister-in-law’s dogs.

While we were on the website we spent about 15 minutes discussing all the different dogs that were listed. I’m sure I mentioned how cute some of them were and I wish we could have a dog. We can’t because I am not able to take care of it while my wife is at work.

Strangely though it seemed as if Macy understood what we were discussing. She has been super cuddly with me since. She usually sits on my lap for a while each morning but yesterday morning she spent over an hour. The strangest thing was yesterday evening she jumped up on my lap to cuddle. She has not jumped up on my lap in the evenings for months. We think she could understand we were talking about dogs and she doesn’t want us to get one! Can she be that smart?

Update: I looked at the Cedar Valley website today and the puppies had been adopted already.

The Cross of Christ

this is the type of post that I wonder if it's suitable for Facebook. Let me know what you think.
Recently I was reading a book of short stories. The story’s main theme was a United States ruled by a religious group that held onto the crucifix. This being the cross of Christ with him hanging upon it. In this story the group in power sought out heretics who had the cross of Christ without Christ on it. It was very interesting and made me think a lot about Christianity and the cross of Christ.

One group had reverence for the cross with Jesus hanging on it. The other group had reverence for the cross without Christ taking on. The symbology is very significant. The empty cross makes me wonder where did he go? The following verses explain this:

“And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.”
1 Timothy 3:16 KJV

This is the most outstanding fact of Christianity. Christ ascended into heaven! He is not on the cross. He is not in the grave. The grave could not hold him because of who he is! Now there is a man in heaven interceding for us. This is the most dramatic and staggering truth of Christianity. This is why many groups have reverence for the empty cross. In the garden the angel told women who went there that “he is not here”. He lingered for 40 days to pass on important lessons to his disciples and us. Then he ascended into heaven. Someday, maybe soon he is coming back for us!

MS reaction

I saw this photo on a Facebook connection. Struck me as being similar to how MS makes me feel. I imagine the driver is thinking: Something’s wrong, the wheels are turning, the motorcycle is operating but something seems wrong. I can’t quite put my finger on it!

MS – Connections

One year the MS Society had a motto that MS breaks connections. This had 2 points they were trying to make. MS breaks the connections between our motor functions and our brain. This means our bodies quit responding to our brains because the signals don’t make it to the muscles. The other point they were making as that is MS advances it isolates the individual.

In my case I did everything I could to maintain continuing activities that kept me out among people. I tend to be an introvert but realized I needed to keep functioning and I learned to appreciate people like I never had before. My main effort was to keep working. A few people hinted I should consider disability but I fought on as long as I could until my hands for longer could run a computer. I can barely move my arms and could not do anything on the computer. That was the end of my work career.

Now I spend most weekdays by myself. One of my sons comes and gets me lunch and tends to a few things I need. My wife comes around 9:30 AM and gets me up, gets me dressed, get my breakfast and in general gets me going for the day. I still maintain my Facebook connections with my friends from work.

It is become more and more difficult to make any “in presence” connections with people outside of my family and my wife’s family. This is through no fault of anyone, it is just the disease  and how it affects me. I never know how I will feel a few hours from now let alone a few days. This makes it very hard to plan things. I have digestive problems due to the constant inactivity. Sometimes these keep me home when I would prefer to be out among my friends.

I also have major problems speaking very loudly. MS has affected by diaphragm. My trigeminal neuralgia procedure has affected by speech. So when we go out is very difficult for me to join in the conversations. This is very hard on me and I know it is frustrating to other people who want to include me. I appreciate all the effort people put into keeping me involved. MS has sure broken my connections with others. My wife has been fantastic. When we’re out and the setting is noisy she relays to others what I said so they understand my  and helps me a lot. Somehow she can tell people what I’m saying so fothey can understand it.

Oh well MS is what it is and I just have to deal with. I just don’t want anyone to feel bad because of my limitations. MS truly does break connections. This I tend to be an introvert I am content to just hang out in my living room or bedroom. I have to make an effort to be social.

Evangelicals and Politics

I see a lot of political posts on Facebook. Some hint that Evangelicals should support Donald Trump. I can’t say I really get the connection. So far Donald Trump has said Iowans are a stupid, the Des Moines Register is a third-rate publication, he is his own advisor, if Ivanka wasn’t his daughter she is hot enough that he would date her. He is angry that he got shut out in Colorado. He is very confusing. He claims he knows the process but then when it doesn’t favor him he goes ballistic and starts threatening. All this being said I find none of the current candidates suitable for evangelicals.

The apostle Paul writes to Timothy the following:

“I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;” 1 Timothy 2:1-3 KJV

I can’t say I was an Obama supporter but I find this verse tells me “first of all” I am supposed to pray for those that are in power. That would be president Obama, the Senate, the House and our Iowa government and city governments. This doesn’t say you can’t complain or promote against a certain candidate but it says we’re supposed to pray first of all. I’m not sure I meet these requirements but they are written for our learning and admonition.

Long Days

It’s been almost 2 years since I could get in and out of bed by myself. The last year and a half I’ve tried to spend 11 to 12 hours in my chair. This means 12 to 13 hours in bed. When I started this blog I decided to be transparent and is honest I could. There many posts that I wouldn’t put on Facebook, this is one of those.

I’m now finding the 11 to 12 hours in my chair to be very long days some days. Some days it’s the right amount of time. Other days I’m looking forward to going to bed as early as 3 o’clock. Usually I run out of steam around 7 to 8:00 PM. I usually go to bed around 9 PM so that’s not that hard. Long days are when I’m out of steam around 3 o’clock or even 6 PM. I want to hold out till 9 PM or so to keep my time in bed around 12 to 13 hours. This seems like a great division of time but makes for some very long days.

I have been reading in Thessalonians and today this 1^st it out to me:

“But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing.”
2 Thessalonians 3:13 KJV

I find I get very weary because of my disease. I suppose I get weary in well doing also but it seems more like disease-related. I remember a saying people had a number of places I worked. It was “no good deed goes unpunished”. I found, especially the last place I worked, how true this was. If you get anything good than a whole bunch of people had “good ideas” to either go along with what I did or ideas to get them out of work and leave me with more! I think it is easy to get weary especially in well doing. There seems to be an immediate response when bad is done. Normally there is no outward show of appreciation for good deeds. We need to remember Paul’s words to be not weary.

Macy – Two-Person Cat

I mentioned in one of my earlier posts that I was no longer able to brush Macy in the manner in which she had become accustomed. This cat loves to be brushed and she loves to rub her chin on the bristles. Since I can’t brush her while I’m sitting in my chair she has turned to my wife to not only be brushed but to be fed and have her water fountain filled. This is when we found out she tends to be a one person cat. She started ignoring me and only wanted my wife. She became relentless following her around and making her little chirping meow noises at her.

This last week Macy started warming up to me again and now she has grown emotionally and is now a two-person cat. At night she usually sleeps between my knees and then I brush her in the morning before I get out of bed. I’ve been doing arm stretching with my right arm and so I am able to scratch her chin and ears more than I had been. So now at night and in the morning she is Phil’s kitty. She still sits on my lap occasionally in the morning.

When Matt gets here to feed me lunch she follows him around and occasionally he brushes her. Then she disappears and hides until my wife gets home. So in the evenings she is my wife’s cat. It’s good to see her accepting like most part more than one person to bestow her affections on. Of course it is obvious that she thinks we should appreciate being allowed to shower her with affection. Somehow she is gotten the idea that she is Royalty!

It’s a Rainy Sunday

I’m up earlier than usual. My wife went to a craft outing with her sisters and mom. So until this afternoon it’s just me and Macy. Hanging out together. I really miss going to church and when I could drive myself and get up early enough I used to go at least twice a month. Now the barriers are, I sleep till 10:30 AM or later on the weekends, it’s a lot of work to get me up and dressed and I can’t drive myself. So I content myself with listening to the service online. I still miss church and seeing some of the people. I’ll be blunt, there’s some people I don’t miss seeing but the Bible tells me this is a wrong attitude. But I want you to know that I struggle with a lot of things.

I do enjoy reading a lot. I’ve been enjoying Thessalonians of late. The following scriptures are referred to as the “Rapture”. I don’t believe the word rapture is in the Scripture and it wasn’t and yell the definition of rapture was explained that I understood. Rapture means to be “caught up with great delight”! So the following verses describe being caught up:

“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 KJV

I know there are many people who find this concept ridiculous and make fun of it. Making fun of it does not make it any less true. It also says to comfort one another with these words. It’s a great comfort to know someday will leave this “vale of tears”!

Opiate of the People?

Hi - I'm reading "The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith" by Timothy Keller and wanted to share this quote with you.

"Jesus hates suffering, injustice, evil, and death so much, he came and experienced it to defeat it and, someday, to wipe the world clean of it. Knowing all this, Christians cannot be passive about hunger, sickness, and injustice. Karl Marx and others have charged that religion is “the opiate of the masses.” That is, it is a sedative that makes people passive toward injustice, because there will be “pie in the sky bye and bye.” That may be true of some religions that teach people that this material world is unimportant or illusory. Christianity, however, teaches that God hates the suffering and oppression of this material world so much, he was willing to get involved in it and to fight against it. Properly understood, Christianity is by no means the opiate of the people. It’s more like the smelling salts."

I found this passage particularly interesting. In my early 20s I bounced between being an atheist and agnostic. I often quoted that phrase that “religion is the opiate of the masses”. I did not follow Karl Marx at all but remember that quote. So this passage from the book I’m reading struck me profoundly. We have I have only God and ultimate destination with him but he still wants eyes to make a difference in our world. it's good to remember that the weapons of our warfare are spiritual only. What a wonderful balance.

Cat – strophe averted

I know all my readers have been torn up by this latest setback. There is good news though!
The new fountain came yesterday. Macy had to oversee its assembly. Now we have a happy kitty! Or maybe just a less crabby kitty. She sure loves her running water. It’s hard to be annoyed with her she has the saddest little meow, so quiet and so sad. She sure is a sweetheart.

It was pretty funny this morning. When Janette came to get me out of bed at 9:30 AM Macy jumped off the bed, ran past Janette and started drinking out of her fountain.  she was making a statement that “I have my fountain now I don’t need your sink, I don’t need to beg anymore!

Earthly House and the Hope before Us

While I am trapped in his body that does little of that I want it to I am reminded that I can still serve the Lord. I don’t think there’s any reward for self-pity so I do everything I can to avoid it. Thinking about the hope this before us definitely helps. Here are some verses I’ve been enjoying recently.

“For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:

Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:

We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.”
2 Corinthians 5:1-2, 5-6, 8-10 KJV

the prodigal God

I'm reading "The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith" by Timothy Keller and wanted to share this quote with you.

"In a few short words Newton outlines our dilemma. The choice before us seems to be to either turn from God and pursue the desires of our hearts, like the younger brother, or repress desire and do our moral duty, like the older brother. But the sacrificial, costly love of Jesus on the cross changes that. When we see the beauty of what he has done for us, it attracts our hearts to him. We realize that the love, the greatness, the consolation, and the honor we have been seeking in other things is here. The beauty also eliminates our fear. If the Lord of the Universe loves us enough to experience this for us, what are we afraid of? To the degree we “see his beauty” we will be free from the fear and neediness that creates either younger brothers or elder brothers.
Our friends at Kurt and Lori provided this book “the Prodigal God” for me to read. As you may know there are 2 brothers in the story of the prodigal son. This book deals with the father going to each of the signs and shows how the elder son was just as lost as his prodigal brother. This was a quote I enjoyed a lot.

Cat – strophe

Another Monday, even though I don’t work Mondays are still the worst day of the week. So in light of that I’m hoping this post is light and maybe funny. Last week the fountain we have for our cat quit working. She still has water to drink but the water no longer comes out in a stream at the top.

To poor little Macy this is the height of disaster! She loves to drink from running water. She seems to think it’s her right to have running water all the time. She uses it not only to drink but to get water on her paws so she could do a good job of cleaning her face. She used to jump up on the sink and make chirping noises (she never really meows) so I would set the water just right for her to drink and wash her paws.

This became a problem when we moved here because her litter box is in the same room as my bathroom sink. She would get her paws wet and then tracked litter all over because it stuck to her paws. To fix this we bought a fountain for pets and put it at the other end of the house. It quit earlier last week. These fountain motors don’t seem to last very long and you cannot just buy the pump. So I ordered a new fountain from Amazon. It does take a couple days to get here. Until then the poor kitty has to suffer terribly! Every time Janette walks toward the room where the fountain is in she runs after her making her weird chirping noises. She sits by the fountain and looks at it and then Janette. Back and forth so Janette knows the kitty needs running water.

The funniest thing happened yesterday. Janette went back to her bathroom and was going to turn on a sink so Macy could drink out of it. She said come on Kitty. Macy raced back to down the hall to be with her. In the 5 years we’ve had Macy she has never come when she was called. It was hilarious. This cat is addicted to running water

Some people may think this cat is spoiled. Maybe she is but I think the fountain is a medical necessity. We tried having her drink water out of a bowl but she drank so little she got bladder stones. The vets had a Roto-Rooter her and they put her on a special food. They said she needed to drink a lot of water to keep things flowing. So we got the 1^st fountain. So this kitty is not really spoiled, right?

Think on These Things

Here it is Friday morning and Janette has got me in my chair and gave me breakfast. The TV is on but it’s muted. I have my books and Bible on my iPhone, iPad and PC. I started reading a ministry book this morning called “The Prodigal God”. I listen to 3 chapters in the New Testament. Now I have to admit I’m bored. I don’t really enjoy much on TV. I can only read so much so I went over to the front window to look out and see what the cat finds so interesting. while I was there I was daydreaming and admiring the trees even though they don’t have any leaves yet. Of course my thoughts tend to gravitate toward the negative. How much effort it is for my wife to take care of me. How difficult it is for me to do anything. And then I remembered these verses from Philippians. It’s hard to get around what it tells me I should be dwelling on and thinking on. The portion I like the best is “whatsoever things are lovely”.

“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”
Philippians 4:8 KJV

The Peace of God

Here are a view more verses that I have been enjoying from Philippians. In this insane affliction that I have with MS I have to say many times I’ve experienced the peace that these verses describe. With the ever worsening MS symptoms I still find peace in knowing the Lord. I don’t know the path but I do know the end of the path. A new resurrected body!

“Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:4-7 KJV