smart dog!

I love my dogs. Anybody who knows me knows that. But sometimes Maxim is so smart he startles me! In the last few days we have had two incidents that show how bright he is. Not just smart but able to figure things out in his brown furry head.

I’ve talked a lot about the little dogs and their coats. The coats have Velcro strips across the chest and around the girth bands. You overlap the strips and it is very secure—unless you don’t get the strips lined up. Then the little hooks catch in the ‘suede’ and hold for a bit but aren’t very secure. With much activity at all the strips come loose and the little busy body walks right out of the coat.

Yesterday or the day before, Sebastian was out tearing round with the big dogs, being all macho, and when he came in his coat was gone. It was lying out in the middle of the yard abandoned. Rachael was busy when she let the dogs and said she would have to go back when she finished whatever it was she was doing. A few minutes later she got her shoes and jacket and prepared to trek across the snow covered yard after the coat.

Then Maxim came bouncing up, all bright eyed and enthusiastic. Just on a whim, Rachael called him and told him to go get Sebastian’s coat. Maxim indicated his willingness by bouncing a little more. When a chocolate Lab bounces it is something to see.

Rach bent over and took his big head in her hands and said, “Look at me.” Sometimes you have to help him focus. “Go get Sebastian’s coat. Out there.” She let go of his head and pointed.

Maxim turned around looked across the yard and went directly to the coat. He picked it up and brought it straight to her! Of course we squealed like a couple school girls and patted him and told him how great he is and how smart he is. And he pranced around all proud of himself.

Now I know he responded to her pointing and saying “Go get. . . ,” but he still had to figure out what it was she wanted. He’d never heard the word ‘coat’ in relation to anything- never mind to Sebastian and seeing it lying in the middle of the yard. It required a little bit of cogitation on his part.

Now today, he demonstrated his brain-power again. One of his favorite jobs is picking up the little dogs’ dishes in the evening after they have finished eating. At first he was just entertaining himself, but when we called him to bring them to us and praised him for doing it, he decided it was His Job to clean up after the little dogs. He does it every evening. One night when I fell asleep in my chair and R & M put him in with me while they ran an errand, I woke up to find one of the bowls on my lap. Evidently he’d tried to give it to me but I was too stupid to wake up and take it so he put it on my lap!

Today while Rachael was cleaning up after lunch one of us said something about the little dogs’ dishes. I told Rachael they were still in My Room but to see if Maxim would go get them. Now this was a Biggie. He gets them regularly but they are always in line of sight, never around the corner and down the hall.

First Rachael tried just sending him after them. Well, the first time he brought her his ball. Yes, it was from the bedroom and it did start with a B, but it wasn’t a bowl. He started off again and came back with her shoe! By this time Sebastian was tearing around barking and jumping and carrying on.

Then she called Maxim and took a plastic bowl out of the dishwasher—she’d been loading the dirty dishes. She showed Maxim the bowl and let him strck his nose in it and told him to go get the bowls. She pointed down the hall and he was off! Back in a minute with one bowl.

She sent him back after the second. More distraction from Sebastian. She corralled Sebastian and gave him to me to hold. Again she sent him after the other bowl, pointing down the hall. Gable’s bowl is metal and I wondered if he’d figure it out. Not a problem, he came back with the second bowl, too. Of course he was terribly proud of himself. He earned treats for everybody, even Mika and Gable who hadn’t done anything at all and the One who had interfered.

I sometimes wonder if he is telepathic. My old Aspen could do the same thing—perform tasks on a minimum number of clues. Maxim is younger and more easily distracted, but he is learning. Keeping Gable and Sebastian from bugging him helps. It is hard to concentrate when someone one-fifth your size is jumping around and on you and nipping at you jugular.

Tell me how smart your dog is… I’ll match it with mine!

God's Triumphant Church!

I’ve just been listening to good church of God singing. I miss that. I can spend time with God and be blessed and strengthened and rejoice. But the sound of the saints of God praising God in song just doesn’t come any way but by being there! And I’m not in a position where I can be there…

The song that blessed me most this morning was “The Church Triumphant!” You know, almost no one any more believes in a church and a people that can be triumphant! Everyone seems to think we have to sin a little everyday. They feel the little habits of life are always going to follow us and as long as we don’t get carried away with them they are okay. They loudly proclaim their ‘witness for Jesus’ but they live in utter confusion. They talk about being saved and living for God but freedom from sin doesn’t enter into the conversation. And if you do introduce it, it seems like a foreign language.

I am so thankful today for a Church Triumphant! I am so thankful for a Savior that gives the people of His Church victory over sin and the Devil! That is what Jesus came to establish—not some where far out in the future, but in this world today! Amen!

Listen to it here: http://www.churchofgodsinging.com/index.php?do=p&id_song=6
Men speak of “a church triumphant”
As something on earth unknown,
They think us beneath the tyrant
Until we shall reach our home.

~Refrain:
Thank God for a church triumphant,
All pure in this world below!
For the kingdom that Jesus founded
Does triumph o’er every foe.

Oh, cannot the great Redeemer
Prevail over Satan here?
Or must we remain yet under
Confusion, pressed down in fear?

He built on a sure foundation,
And said that the gates of hell
Against her divine munition
Can never indeed prevail.

’Tis not in the church of Jesus
That people yet live in sin;
But in the dark creeds they’re joining,
And vainly are trusting in.

God’s church is alone triumphant,
In holiness all complete;
And all the dark pow’rs of Satan
She tramples beneath her feet.

~Refrain:
Thank God for a church triumphant,
All pure in this world below!
For the kingdom that Jesus founded
Does triumph o’er every foe.

Oh how blest I was this morning to hear the truth in this song. What a joy to be able to not just listen but to sing with the singers! I grew up with this song and I've experienced the truthe of it I don’t have to sin! I can be triumphant! I don’t have to be subject to the desires of the flesh. I don’t have to succumb to Satan’s deceit every time he comes past. I can have victory over his temptation. I don’t have to worry about doing something unwittingly that God will merit God’s disapproval. I don’t have to come to God every time I pray and ask his forgiveness for sins I’ve committed. I don’t have to commit those sins! Amen! I don’t have to worry over ‘unknown sins’ because I know the Bible teaches us that sin is a knowing transgression of God’s Word. I don’t need to live in fear of doing something wrong by accident because I didn’t know. I have the Holy Spirit to lead and guide me and teach me all things. Praise the Lord, if there is something I shouldn’t be doing, He’ll tell me and I can not do it.!

I found a sermon online this morning that will bear listening to if you really want to serve the Lord. It's about standing firm with Jesus. http://www.godsacres.org/pg.popup.sesher.html

If we are to be a part of the Church Triumphant, you have to stand firm with Jesus!

snowdays and dog baths

Well! I’m bright eyed and bushy-tailed since 400 AM. Rats. That means I’m gonna poop out around three oclock this afternoon!

I had a lovely day yesterday.Since it was already Rachael's day off and Michael's work was operating on a skeleton staff--ie without any one from a distance--I spent time with R & M and played with the dogs. Watched the big ones get baths! Big process in our house.

Mika has a ton of hair—she is part chow and maybe malamute or akita..some dog like that. Rachael combed her for about 45 minutes before her bath and got a grocery sack full of hair from her. I kid you not a grocery sack full. It took about half an hour to get her washed and rinsed thoroughly and then dried off, not with a blow dryer but with about six towels (including one of my brand new fluffy Christmas present towel! Oh yeah. I was a happy camper!)

But what I started to say was that after Rach had finished washing and rubbing and blotting and fluffing her, Mika waked out of the bathroom, sneezed and shook and pieces of fluff like dust-bunnies floated off in the air! So Michael sat down and brushed her for another half hour and got another bag of fluff from her. We could start our own factory.

Then they washed Maxim. He doesn’t have nearly so much hair but would love being brushed as long as Mika was (it feels good). But it takes a while to bathe him, too, because he loves it so much. Labs are part seal or dolphin, I think. He isn’t naughty or trying to run away, just bite the shower spray, wag his tail, swim in the shower spray and generally get everything wet. The good thing is that Rach can take him in my big handicap accessible shower and close the door, so when he shakes it flies only as far as the walls and the shower doors! Of course in the process of washing him, she gets her bath too. I'm gonna hope she used my new Christmas towel on herself instead of the dog. *sigh*

Now they are beautiful—all shiny and bright. They almost glow in the dark. Maxim is sleek and Mika is fluffy. Today or tomorrow the little dogs get their baths. That isn’t nearly such a big deal, but they don’t appreciate it as much as the big ones. Oh they stand still but they act like they are being tortured prior to murdered. It is like the worst thing ever in the whole world that could happen to them.

Then after it is all over, they feel so good! And they bounce around and chase each other and roll on the carpet and the comforter on the bed. Generally they act as though the whole thing was a great idea and more specifically that it was their own idea.

Now everyone has to get their collars and ‘jingles’ back on. Each one except Maxim has three jingles-a license tag, a rabies tag, and a little ID with our name address and phone number on it. I can identify the dog by the sound his jingles make. Each one recognizes their own collar. Maxim is very proud of his even though Rachael took the important tags off—the license and the rabies tag. He lost them twice and we were lucky enough to find them. She is taking no more chances. He just makes a little rattle. Mika has a silver ‘choker’ chain, just looped over her head; the rings for the tags hold the choker part together. If she wears a lead, it is attached to the firm ring, not the sliding side. She sounds like a whole orchestra. Gable and Sebastian sound about the same as each other, but Sebastian has longer toenails so I hear a clicking sound with his.

Oh my there are so many important things for me to think about as a retiree.

the "jesus test"

Why am I offended when someone sends me an email “Jesus Test” saying “If you aren't ashamed to do this, please forward this email to at least ten people” It irritates me no end! Most times I’m so irritated I hit the delete button before I even think about it. Then I feel guilty. So this morning I analyzed my feelings.

Of course, I'm not ashamed of Jesus. Every soul who knows me knows that! Lord knows that Jesus is life and breath and salvation and strength and hope of eternity to me. He has kept me and blessed me and brought me through a life that I guess (although I didn’t realize it till later someone told me) has not always been easy. I don’t have enough words to praise Him. And yet, I’m offended.

Why? Maybe because I often get them from people who I know aren’t living lives for Christ. Somehow they feel that by forwarding a few beautiful pictures of Christ, it makes them more of a Christian. The pictures are always loving and inspirational, but I don’t need a loving and inspirational picture to make me feel loved by Christ. I don’t need a picture to make me love Him more or to make me feel my gratitude to Him more deeply. I live out my love and gratitude every single day. I don’t need to send a cute email.

Why else? Maybe because I feel that (often) I’m getting them from people who are trying to impress me with their goodness. Often times I know they are not godly people and I resent (a bit) that they are trying to fool me into believing they are. I don’t love them any less because I know they aren’t living for God, but I feel sad that they think they can influence me into believing they are. I feel sad that they believe that by sending a pretty Jesus Test they are proving their allegiance to Him. I won’t harshly condemn them if they aren’t living for the Lord, but I won’t back off on the standard of salvation in regard to them either.

Why else? Maybe it is just because I refuse to include myself in the thousands of people who pass these around the internet without an ounce of salvation in their hearts.

Now it isn’t that some of the forwards I get aren’t good. Some times they are. And sometimes I put my own spin on them so there is a message behind them rather that a just a warm-fuzzy that makes people feel good. But I refuse to pass anything on that might be used to make the receiver feel that he can make himself right with God just by forwarding an email. I refuse to pass anything on that will make the receiver feel that by forwarding it he will proclaim his standing with God—especially if I know the person is NOT right with God.

I don’t think any less of good saints who send these to me. (If you are one, please don't be hurt. Lots of you do. ) I truly believe they are just endeavoring to extend their witness. I just wish they would do a little editing. Change the wording so it doesn’t appear that anyone who passes them on is a Christian. Or just forward the pictures and the message without the challenge to take the “Jesus Test”

The real “Jesus Test” is lived out every day of our life. We do the things that are pleasing to God in every situation. We give of our self and our life to be a witness of His saving grace. We don’t pass on just pretty pictures and warm fuzzies, but also messages that carry a challenge for righteous living and messages that point men and women to a better way, messages that give a standard for making heaven our eternal home. THOSE are the deeds included in the real “Jesus Test” They are the things that are evidence of our real love for Jesus.

memories of a man of God

I hope no one gets tired of my talking about the saints of God who have had an influence in my life. This is another one of those posts. I appreciate those men and women of God. Their faithfulness has helped to hold me fast through life. I only hope my life can have the same effect on someone after me.

I few weeks ago I reconnected with a young man I knew many years ago. One day I opened my mail to find a message saying, ”Are you the Vondi who used to go to Parrall Church of God?” I say "young man" because he was young when I knew him. He had a special place in his heart for Rachael. Lol

And today they are all grown up. Brother Steve is probably in his late 40’s early 50’s now. (Sorry brother Steve, if I've made you older than you are!) And Rachael is 32. wow. I remembered brother Steve but Rachael didn’t have a clue until I reminded her that he used to give her ‘quarters.’ They weren’t all quarters… just what ever change he happened to have in his pocket. But what can I say? Rach was two or three. All shiny coins were quarters.

What a surprise to hear from him. He had found my email address pn a message from another friend. What a small world. I had a conversation with him via Facebook the other night. One of the things we e spoke of was his father and the witness he’d had.

Brother Allan Wingate had been a singer on the popular music scene when he gave his life to the Lord and abandoned it all. His singing blessed me many times at campmeeting and his testimony was wonderful. Brother Steve sent me a website that had some of the songs his dad had written and sung for the Lord after he’d been saved. I listened to them all that night and was blessed to tears with the witness in them.

Then I was prompted to go search for some of the recordings from before he was saved. Brother Steve had said some were posting his music online for collectors. He was grieved because he said his dad had rejected all of that life and music when he gave his heart to the Lord. He had destroyed all of the music from that life. And now some were trying to revive it. I knew Brother Wingate’s testimony but something made me go and find those recordings on line.

I had cried with joy over the Christian songs Brother Allan had written, but when I found those old worldly songs I was blessed all over again. NOT by the songs but from the life the Lord had saved him from and the dedication required to walk away from that life. Brother Allan’s songs were good, excellent from a worldly stand point. They had the rhythm and driving impetus popular in that time. He was on his way to the top in the music business.

I grew up during that era. I recognized the potential in what I was hearing. And he walked away from it to serve the Lord! Praise the Lord for His Power. Praise the Lord for brother Allan’s submission! He left all of that glitter and promise of acclaim and riches to become a humble pastor. He raised up a congregation that still stands today.

I think of the many entertainers who have made a profession of being saved today. How false their witness is when their lifestyle and conduct crucify Christ afresh every day! We cannot stand with a foot in both worlds. We either serve the Lord in righteousness or we don’t.

What a testimony brother Wingate left behind. I talked a few days ago about the need for those who follow us to find us faithful in serving the Lord and in the testimony we leave. It is vital.

One of my most vivid memories of brother Wingate is of him sitting with his guitar on the end of the platform in the old tabernacle at God’s Acres He never sat in the center of th eplatform, but always on one end, humble and submissive to the older pastors. He sat there absent mindedly checking the tune of his guitar and giving his testimony. Then he sang, “If it weren’t for the lighthouse, tell me, where would my ship be…” I don’t have a recording of him singing it ( I wish I did.) but go listen to this video and think, if you have been born again, how much tht light means to you and the change it has made in your life.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpSlHAkcN6g

gingerbread houses

I got a Pix message from Kerra the other day. Some background is needed before I tell the story.

When Seth and Keva were old enough for both to have some manual dexterity (Kindergarten for Seth) Kerra began a Christmas tradition of building a gingerbread house. She made the gingerbread, of course and assembled the house. Then the kids did the decoration.

The first time was at my house. Keva was pretty much able to apply her own decorations, but Seth and I collaborated on our two sides. He put the candies on and I helped with the fine details. Kerra has continued the tradition as the kids get older and the houses more elaborate. I used to have copies of the houses from each year on my phone, but I’ve replaced the phone at least once and I may have erased the one from last year even.

This year’s house I will keep for posterity. They built this fabulous hogan! I love it. Right now I only have one photo, but if more come I’ll come back and past them in this post. Traditional hogans have no windows and only a smoke hole in the top, so there wasn't a lot of room for embellishment. Theirs had a few flowers or scrolls or something and I don't know what the circles are on the sides. Still, grandmas aren't the most critical audiences in the world and I think it is great.

This absolutely has to be the FIRST gingerbread hogan in history!

new year's day

You know, the internet is a wonderful thing. This morning I had a New Year’s Day present that was almost as good as being there… Notah posted a video on photobucket for me. It was their Christmas morning! I loved it.

My grandkids are growing up so fast. Keva is beautiful. Notah will have to fight the boys off with sticks and stones when it dawns on them. Seth is his handsome humorous self. ( In the midst of the present opening he started singing, “I saw mama kissing Santa Claus!” He has always been full of song and even as a baby would ride along in his car seat singing to himself. When he learned to talk then he could put words to the songs! )

There were pictures of the Thain and Sadie sitting on the couch wrestling with each other while everyone opened presents. Thain was a fuzzy puppy when I last saw him. Now he is a Big Dog, but he still acts like a simple pup. And his tail!!! He has a tail as long as he is! He is going to be very striking when he is grown. I’m so thankful he survived the rattlesnake bite. There were a couple shots of Huckleberry laying in a patch of sunlight taking life easy. He’s too old to get involved in such foolishness as wrestling and presents!

Kerra got a new video camera. She was thinking the box was a handgun. The kids and dad got a big kick out of surprising her! Now I expect some pictures of my favorite son. The only problem with my New Year’s Day present was that there were no pictures of Notah. He was running the video recorder. As much as I love the kids and Kerra, Notah is my little boy. How strange. Our kids grow up and become adults but deep in a mom’s heart there is still the memory of that cute little kid she watched grow up.

In fact, since Kerra has a camera, I’ll expect videos to get posted all the time.

I think so often of Louie’s Mom. Now I can relate when I remember how happy she was when we visited in the summers. She loved the pictures I sent her of Notah and Rachael and put them up all over her little house. Wouldn’t she have been thrilled to get movies of them! Probably every bit as thrilled as I was.