A Woodpecker, Two Cats, and Two Dogs

This weekend, while sitting in the back yard, I saw a woodpecker hunting for food along the trunk of a pine tree. His red head, a sharp contrast to his black body, moved back and forth wildly as he plunges his beak over and over into the bark of the pine. Then he’d move to another spot and repeat the process. His hunt for food went on and on until perhaps he noticed the bird feeder hanging near the tree. He hopped over to it, and began pecking for his food in the holes along the tube-shaped feeder.

While his pecking action served him well in the pine, and probably fed him seed at the feeder, it also caused seed to fly all over as he forced his beak into the soft seed. If other birds had witnessed this, and could think it, they’d have thought, “how vulgar is that fellow.”

Now the cats. We have two of them. The first, Tabby, was about six weeks old when we took her in. She’d been abandoned. We also took in a puppy, Brandy, at the same time. These two were raised together. Tabby is part Maine coon, and makes quite a scene when we take her into the veterinarian’s office. People love her, but always point out how big she is. She’s huge. . . for a cat. Tabby also has an interesting habit of expressing herself in what is nearly a bark, or as close as she can come. She’s been around Brandy nearly eight years now, and perhaps considers herself more dog than cat.

Two years ago, we took in a German shepherd/husky mix, Sina. While she “talks” as though she were giving a warbled whine, she also will occasionally bark. This is the nature of the husky that is within her.

The three of them are funny when the doorbell rings. The two dogs head for the door, while Tabby makes a straight run for the downstairs family room. She’s decided she’s big, but no match for however is at the door.

A month or so ago, we took in another given-up cat. Violet is about two years old and her previous caretaker couldn’t care for her any longer. Violet is small, and walks around the house carefully. She also has a very cat-like meow. She doesn’t bark like Tabby.

The woodpecker and Violet both act according to their true natures. A woodpecker is meant to peak at trees. Taken out of its environment, to the feeder, it continues to peak as if it were in a tree. Its his nature. Violet, too, speaks with a voice of a cat. “Meow,” she cries. Tabby is different. She was so young, and not long around other cats, that she’s adopted the strange habit of speaking in an bark. Now Sina is really interesting. The longer she’s been around Brandy, the more often she will bark rather than “talk” like a husky.

The Apostle Paul spoke of the nature that we have within us.

. . .put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Ephesians 4:22-24

Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus. He wrote to a people who’d not been raised in Jewish tradition and custom. They had formally been Gentiles, heathens, pagans. They were like the woodpecker and the cat Violet. The Ephesians had previously had a particular nature, an old self as Paul pointed out. This was to be a former life, something in the past, and to be put aside. They were encouraged to put on the new self that is created in the likeness of G-d. Tabby, on the other hand, grew up around an animal of a different nature. She accepted that barking, not soft meowing, was to be followed. Sina shows me that even in a short time she is able to adopt new behavior when around a different breed of dog.

The People of G-d come into the Biblical tradition in one of two ways. Either they are born into it, as Jews, or they are adopted into it, as Gentile Believers. For the Jew, it is only a matter of believing that Y’shuaJesus is Messiah that has come, and will come again. The Jewish people were awaiting a conquering Messiah when Y’shua came, died, and rose to Heaven. The Jewish people still await that conqueror. For the Jew to be complete, the Jew must recognize the dual role of Messiah: the suffering servant, Who lived, died, rose; and the conquering Messiah Who will come back to Earth to cleanse the wicked and to rule with justice. Their eyes and heart will be toward Y’shuaJesus as Messiah.

The Gentiles came to understand and find salvation in a Messiah who came to suffer and pay the bond that must be paid to come reconcile themselves with G-d. Formally Gentiles, they must also come to realize that they are now, as has been said, grafted into a domesticated tree. They are not the tree, but grafted branches among the natural branches, the Jewish Believers in Messiah Y’shuaJesus. As such, formally Gentile, Believers come to acknowledge Messiah Y’shua as Lord and Savior and coming King, putting off their former selves and practices of the heathen world.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

A Wonderful Sail Yesterday

Yesterday, I went out to the lake to sail. I stopped on the way to pay a bill. When I arrived at the marina, despite forecasts of wind, there was nothing. Then I realized my phone dropped from my pocket while paying that bill. I drove back to the place, retrieved my wallet, and thought, “No wind. Why bother going all the way back out.” I drove toward home, yet turned on to the highway toward the marina without even realizing it. So I figured, “Okay, let’s try anyway.” On the way, I did see some tree tops moving and some waves forming on the lake. The wind was coming up.

That’s not the first time things like that have occurred to me. I’ve taken the “wrong” highway, ending up in the same place I was suppose to be, only by a different route, and only realizing it when I entered the destination from a different place than I’d recalled from the last time there. I knew it was the right “wrong” way, and wondered what was on the other route that I was prevented from taking: an accident that might delay me? an accident waiting for me? Don’t know. Some things just work out the way they do. Things happen.

At the dock, Cassandra, a Cape Dory Sailboat, was looking pretty good, despite needing her teak oiled and some yellow jackets buzzing around the mast. I’ve sealed off the places they used to build nests, but now they’d found a place under the mainsail cover that apparently suited them. Without ado, I cranked up the motor, cast off the lines, and backed out of the slip. The slip is located deep within a cove, off the lake. The water was calm, mostly clear, and I really wondered if it would be worth it going out. I motored slowly toward the mouth of the cove, rounded the shoreline, and was surprised to see another sailboat on the water, full sails, and moving along just fine. As I entered the lake, I could feel the wind now, coming out of the west. The cove is well protected from that direction, which is why it appeared not to be any wind at all.

Soon I shut off the motor, removed the sail cover, which made the few remaining yellow jackets take fly to another haven, and went forward to the mast where I raised the sail. Returning to the cockpit, I sheeted in the mainsail and began to slowly move ahead. Unfurling the jib to it’s full size, I gained further headway. Though the wind was light, under ten miles an hour, I easily made between three-and-a-half to four mph heading southwest about forty-five degrees off the wind. The light wind had very little gusting, and I easily trimmed the sails to point high enough to clear two small islands off to port, my left, and proceed up the lake toward Three Sisters Islands.

The wind began to vary in strength, and Cassandra responded, heeling about 15 degrees and leaping forward nearly to full hull speed of six miles per hour. This lasted five minutes or so and she would settle back down as the wind slowed. This process repeated many times along our route. An occasional gust or change in the direction of the wind did little to disturb Cassandra’s drive toward the islands, though it had me pulling in on the sheets to trim the sail a time or two. We went on this way, remaining on the same tack, that is with the sail to port and wind to starboard, to the right off the bow, for nearly two hours. Finally, we changed direction, tacking and rounding about near the island, then steering a course back toward the marina.

The entire time we were out, dark clouds moved slowly overhead, with only a few gaps where the sun could pop its head through to say, “Hello.” Only a few fishing boats hung around the shores, and one family towing kids on a tube behind a small powerboat sped happily past. One large cruiser moved quickly across my bow, leaving a large wake, which Cassandra bound over as if she were a horse jumping a fence. Or perhaps Cassandra was dreaming of the ocean, and the waves offshore. I think she wants to sail the seas, and only hope she’ll take me as her crew. The other sail boat I’d seen earlier came nearby once and we exchanged greetings as he rounded a buoy I’d just pasted, perhaps preparing for a race or just having fun. His two small children, bundled in life jackets, stood along the stern rail, and waved.

The sail, yesterday, was peaceful. It’s often like that during the week days, unlike the weekends when so many boaters are out. The clouds made it feel a little cooler, too, blocking the intense rays of the sun. It was a nice morning. I like the water, both lakes and ocean. I like being on the water and I like being in the water. I always have. There’s something soothing about the water. Water is unpredictable, too, untamed. Yet it brings me back to a peaceful place where I find a measure of refreshment. Spending some moments such as those yesterday, sailing, open my ears to hear what the Lord would speak to me through the His words recorded by the Apostle Paul so long ago:

I [Paul]therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of

the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Ephesians 4:1-3

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Off on a Tangent & The Pond

The week before last, after writing about rain, I read a news article and took up the charge of writing about its subject. Then I left for a week’s holiday with my wife’s family up North, in Yankee Country. We celebrated Fourth of July together. Returning, I took up the topic at hand. But it wasn’t going anywhere. It seems like I just got off on a tangent, leaving the Spirit of G-d back in the rainy day somewhere.

Earlier this morning the day began with some blue sky and spoke of a sunny day, despite the weather forecast. Now, a couple hours into the day, it is heavily overcast. The NOAA weather forecasts have been close to accurate lately. As foretold yesterday, lightning and thunder closed out the day and lots of rain soaked the garden quite nicely. Even the pond filled to its maximum level.

The pond’s been in about a month now. It isn’t a large pond, really. Oddly shaped with the widest part about ten feet and about twelve feet in the longest. At night a chorus of frogs belts out a tuneless song. Tadpoles swim below the lily pads, some now growing legs. They will soon join the chorus, adding their voices. Eventually we plan to add gold fish to the pond. We’ve added some bog plants, sitting on a shallow ledge that encircles the pond. Bog plants sit in water, with their soil just below the surface. Three lily plants are on another lower ledge toward the middle of the pond. Before the fish, though, we need to drop a large flat rock on a ledge so that it hangs over the deepest part, which is about four feet deep. This will provide a place out of the sun for the fish to stay cool in the summer, and to hide from herons that will feed on them. Also, we are still getting the pond’s natural balance to take hold. At first algae bloomed filled the water with its green haze. I added a bit of natural bacteria to the water, and it is collecting in the filter. A pump forces water through the filter. The algae cleared rapidly as the bacteria decomposed the dying blooms. Algae remains trapped in the filter now, and the bacteria keeps it from getting out of hand. The water is clear, though now we can see the bottom and some leaves and such that have fallen in the pond. We’ll have to clear that stuff too.

Outside the pond, along one side, we planted herbs that will last through the winter, mint and oregano. There are other plants along the other sides. They, too, will last through the winter, to rebloom in the summer. My wife says the garden is done, now, and we can sit on the deck and enjoy. But by this time of year that is nearly impossible; the no-see-ums and the mosquitoes are thick out there. The spring is still the nicest season down here in Georgia. The cool nights prevent the bugs from getting bad, and the warm days carry over to the evening hours making it quite pleasant. Next spring, then, we’ll enjoy the pond as we’ve enjoyed the rest of the garden.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .