MAY 2009 EDITION

I used to laugh at my friend, John, for his strong attachment to his bird dog, “Smoke”. I would kid him unmercifully. That is… until we adopted “Missy”. She is a “pound puppy”, meaning she was adopted from the Cobb County Animal Shelter. I do not kid him so much anymore.

The story of Missy’s adoption is an interesting one. In October of 2007, I was attending my grandson’s football game. It was a late afternoon game on Saturday. Suddenly my phone rings. It is Peggy. She explains that she and our oldest granddaughter, Audrey had been out shopping and “just happened” to go by the Cobb County Animal Shelter. Peggy, you see, had admired Audrey’s family’s dog, Buddy, who had been adopted there. Peggy just wanted to see where the place was located. (Wink, wink!) After looking at all the dogs for adoption, they were ready to leave when Audrey found where the new arrivals were kept. She told her Nonny that she had found a dog just like Buddy!

Back to the phone call...Peggy tells me that they have found a dog just like Buddy.
“Can we have it? Can we have it, Buck?” said Peggy, sounding almost like a small child that has brought home a stray. She said the shelter was closing soon and if “we” did not get the dog then it would be gone when they re-opened. Another lady had wanted the dog, but did not have the required adoption fee.
Having had to”put down” our two golden retrievers because of cancer, years before, I was not inclined to have a dog again. The best answer I could supply to Peggy’s plea was ”Whatever!”

When I arrived home from the game, I found Peggy in the backyard, dog grooming clippers in hand, piles of fur on the ground, and a rather scruffy looking dog of indeterminate origin standing there shaking badly from fear. I told Peggy that I was sure that, in time, I would come to like the dog, but at that time, I was not a “happy camper.”

Fast forward a year and a half, I am now sitting at my desk brooding over the fact that we are going to “abandon” our “dog/child” to a kennel to be boarded for the weekend while we are away. “Will they care for her and love her the way we do?”
“Will she miss us?” “Will she be O.K. in some stranger’s care?”

I truly love that dog as a family member. What is it about dogs that make us think and act like this? I think it is because dogs are such a wonderful picture of God in Christ’s unconditional love for us. Our dogs only want us to be with them. They rejoice when we come home to them. They love us no matter how we treat them. They make no demands of us. They give so much more than they receive.

“Missy, I thank God for you. You are a blessing from God and a constant reminder of His unconditional love for me.” Now, you see why I don’t kid John so much.

MINISTRY NEWS:

We began our new weekly men’s group, called “Tuesday Night Lights.” I am meeting with young men in my neighborhood who are in their 20’s and 30’s and are or will be new fathers. We will use the book, “Man In The Mirror” by Pat Morley as a guide for our discussion.

We held our annual Spring Fling social for our Friday Morning Men’s Group. There were more that forty people in attendance.

Our Friday Morning Men’s group initiated our First Friday Meetings, where we have a featured speaker from the group
who shared from his life experiences. Glenn Gray was our April speaker. Glenn was a test pilot for Lockheed Aircraft Corp. He bought a video featuring some exciting scenes from his test flights. Our May Speaker as O’Neal Sisson, who is a retired pilot from Delta Airlines. He shared the story of a particularly harrowing experience of an aborted take-off in Hawaii. These meetings are intended to invite new guys to attend the group and, so far, have been a successful endeavor.

I am continually humbled and grateful for your friendship and support for the work of Net Work Ministries.

May God bless each one of you and your families with a rich, family-filled Summer filled with great memory-making events.