Squeezing Through

A dog looks upon a cat pan as an all-you-can-eat buffet. This is a nauseating fact of pet character for those of us who mix canines and felines in the same household.

Pet owners block canine access to a cat pan. The canine figures a way over, under, around or through the barricade to reach the pan. The owner tries a new strategy. Eventually, the dog finds a way around that too. Dogs can be devious and very adept at overcoming obstacles when they really want something or think they are playing a game.

There are two large cat pans in this house and I thought I had finally found a way to keep the dogs away from them. The problem is that the cats can barely squeeze through the blockade to reach their pans and I have to move a number of items in order to scoop the pans.

The past few days I noticed the rattan three-sided “gate” was rapidly coming apart at the hinges. This morning I discovered the reason why.

Buddy, my 45 – 50 pound hound was caught sitting in one pan and dining out of the other. He was busted! There was nowhere to run or hide. He could barely turn around and squeeze through the small opening to crawl between the rattan piece and an auto ramp shoved onto a narrow shelf. I was amazed his body could maneuver in that cat-size space. But he was tempted and succumbed.

Gross? Definitely! But does God view a man’s (or woman’s) flagrant sin any differently than I view a dog’s aberrant appetite? God abhors sin and those who deliberately continue in sin are not Christ’s.

Some have fallen for the misconception that God does not exist or does not mean what he says about sin. Some believe they can live an anything-goes lifestyle and knock on heaven’s door at the last moment. And there are some who think it is appropriate to squeeze through a narrow space to sit in a cat pan of sin because God is all-forgiving

Buddy doesn’t know any better. He’s a dog. Man has the Bible, the word of God. What is man’s excuse?

www.mercyandpercy.com/

Shock Jock Imus

The recent remark by shock jock Don Imus on his radio show has earned him a two-week suspension, beginning next Monday. It has also brought him so far into the limelight that in the unlikely event his employer agrees to fire him over the public outcry, he could easily snap up a similar job for more pay.

A “shock jock” is a radio broadcaster who uses “humor” to offend people. There are a number of them who are well-known for offensive comments, and every so often a furor such as this one over Imus hits the headlines.

Personally, I think the airwaves would be better off without this type of “entertainment,” and I could happily go through life without ever listening to one of these “comedians,” but they exist because there is a large enough audience to make such shows profitable.

What are you listening to on the radio - men trashing others for the shock value and ratings …music … non-shocking talk radio ….Christian radio … news?

There is an old saying, Garbage in, garbage out, and it is applicable here. Watch what you allow into your mind. If you listen to programs that exist solely to humiliate, denigrate or poke fun at others, you might not recognize it in yourself, but it will change you – and not for the better.

Whether Imus returns to the same station after his suspension ends or moves on to another station, his type of programming will continue to air.

I didn’t listen to him before this hype began and don’t intend to start now, and from what I have read about his show, it isn’t funny anyway.

God gave us our sense of humor. It’s healthy to laugh. But I would rather stick to clean humor, humor that doesn’t offend or insult others.

www.mercyandpercy.com/

Accidental or intentional

The pet food recall is still news. And it isn't over yet. I found another story of interest on the Anderson Cooper 360º Blog, called “On the toxic pet food story” and posted on April 5, 2007

If the wheat gluten in the pet food was not accidentally tainted, but deliberately laced with melamine to increase the protein level of the wheat gluten, and thereby raise the profit level, something is terribly awry with the minds of those who consider money more valuable than life – any life!

The Food and Drug Administration puts out recall alerts at an alarming rate. You can click here to go to the FDA site and sign up for their email alerts.

There is nothing new under the sun, so greed is not a recent phenomenon, but it will grow worse in the days ahead.

If our only hope was in this society, we would be without hope. But our hope is in Christ.

www.mercyandpercy.com/

RESURRECTION DAY

Have a blessed Resurrection Day!

Without the event this day commemorates, Christians would be without hope.

Have you gotten completely swept up in the hype of Easter - egg hunts, Easter baskets, plays, time off of work, and family dinner- and neglected to thank God for the hope we have through Christ?

Good, I'm glad you remembered what is most important, because the physical is only temporary!

www.mercyandpercy.com/

AGING YOUNGER

As someone well past her 20s, it was a surprise to stumble across an article online today regarding aging younger. These folks aren’t actually aging younger; they just want to hold back the hands of time at a younger age to retain their “looks.”

Why would any woman seek Botox injections at age 21 to try to prevent wrinkles from forming? Has this self-centered society driven women crazy, or has the desire for the approval of the opposite sex driven young women to fear the effects of aging more than the possible side effects of toxins, chemicals or surgery?

I suppose the lack of respect people exhibit toward the natural, God-mandated process of aging marches in step with society’s view of life in general. God did not create us to be vain, living for esthetics rather than building character.

Have you ever heard someone stand at a funeral and eulogize the recently departed? The deceased might have been a philanthropist, a community volunteer, an advocate of the handicapped, a leader of industry, a parent, grandparent, an animal rescuer, a race car driver, a horse trainer, a fireman, policeman, social worker, secretary, accountant - I have heard many words of praise for the dead, but never have I heard anyone eulogized as “she was beautifully young and unwrinkled to the end.”

You can not change society’s view on aging or beauty, but you can change your own, if you have been caught up in the hype of youth and beauty forever and ever.

Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. Ecclesiastes 12:7.

This applies to the wrinkled and white-haired, the wrinkled and dyed-haired, the ones with beautiful internal character, and those with artificial/superficial outer beauty.

www.mercyandpercy.com/