Merry Christmas!

From my house ...

to your house ...

 
 

ONE SOLITARY LIFE

              He grew up in another obscure village, where He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty. Then for three years He was an itinerant preacher.

             He never had a family or owned a home. He never set foot inside a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place He was born. He never wrote a book, or held an office. He did none of the things that usually accompany greatness.

             While He was still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against Him. His friends deserted Him. He was turned over to His enemies, and went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. While He was dying, His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had --- His coat.

             When He was dead, He was taken down and laid in a borrowed grave.

             Nineteen centuries have come and gone, and today He is the central figure for much of the human race. All the armies that ever marched, and all the navies that ever sailed, and all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man
upon this earth as powerfully as this "One Solitary Life."

             -author unknown

    The small puppy was obviously lost, but happy and unassuming, as he wandered down the middle of South College Street, oblivious to the heavy traffic that was dodging to miss him.

     Lauren Glenn, a senior in journalism and English at Auburn University, was a little frustrated with her life, and a little teary-eyed as she drove down the same road, about 15 miles outside of Auburn, away from Tuskegee, swerving to miss the puppy, who was still cheerfully jogging down the middle of the road.

    Neither could have guessed that less than an hour later each would have a new best friend, and the orphaned puppy would gain what could only be the most appropriate name ­ Lucky.

    After swerving to miss the dog once, Glenn decided to turn around and go back, hoping to chase the confused canine from the middle of the road.

    Unfortunately she was too late, and as she pulled onto the grassy shoulder of the country road, she watched, helpless, as an impatient man in a loud, blue and purple Ford pick-up truck, hit the small puppy and kept going.

    Glenn ran across the road, where she found him, limping and bleeding profusely from his mouth, blood beginning to cover his legs, pooling into the grass and weeds around him, the dirt turning to mud in the heavy rain that had just begun to fall.

     "Get out of the road!" she yelled to the puppy, against the downpour, wind and traffic, and though they did not speak the same language, the puppy seemed to understand her, and obeyed immediately.

    The puppy approached her and she him, one trepidant of strange humans, the other of strange animals. But as both discovered that neither would bite, all suspicions subsided, and Glenn rushed to her car in search of a sheet or a towel or blanket ­ anything to wrap around the unfortunate and shaking animal, anything to stop the bleeding.

    "Stay there! Stay," she said, and again, he obeyed.

    Cars rushed past her, unconcerned for the safety of both the puppy and the human, and she found a purple sheet, and commenced wrapping the frightened and injured animal, placing a small part of the sheet in his mouth in hopes of slowing the bleeding, from where several teeth had been knocked out by the bumper that struck him.

    Glenn carefully placed him next to her in the passenger seat and rushed home to her small duplex on the outskirts of Auburn. As she hastily approached the door, her shoes fell off, and barefoot she ran inside, yelling to her roommate, "Get sheets, some hot water and a box!"

    Confused, but aware that there was some sort of emergency, Elizabeth Lawrence did what Glenn asked, and concern and sadness flashed into her eyes, when she saw the injured puppy, and learned his story.

    It was while administrating a warm bath, Lawrence and Glenn decided to name the dog, either a run-away or castaway, Lucky.

    "What an appropriate name," said a man named Brian, who was sitting in the waiting room of the Auburn University Small Animal Clinic, where Glenn brought Lucky for treatment. Brian and his wife had brought their cat in, after she had accidentally swallowed rat poisoning.

    But no one in the veterinary emergency room was concerned for their own pets after they learned Luckyís story, and they petted, and prodded, and held him, just as concerned as if he were their own puppy, and not a run-away mongrel from the country. And though he was nervous, and a little shaky,

    Lucky didnít have a lot to say the crowd of people surrounding him, just to pet his thin frame, or examine his poor and now nearly empty mouth ­ it was the first bit of attention he had experienced in what seemed like a long time, and deep down, he may have been loving every minute of it.

    Right now, Lucky, the dark-eyed dog who resembles an Oreo ­ mostly white around the middle, and predominantly black on both ends -- is doing fine, with just a few missing teeth to mark his brush with death, and he awaits adoption eligibility at the Small Animal Clinic on Wire Road. Clinic officials informed Glenn yesterday that whoever adopts Lucky may have to assume the medical fees incurred through Luckyís treatment.

    Sheís not concerned though ­ sheíll find it somewhere. She found Lucky in the most unexpected place, in a time she says she probably needed him as much as he needed her. He lifted her spirits and made her smile, when her friends, roommates and family just could not. They tried, but they werenít lucky.

    Only a small, lost puppy could be that.

    All she had to do was save his life.

 

The Gospel  of Luke

And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem (because he was of the house and lineage of David), to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being with child.

And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord come upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

And the angel said unto them, "Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto
you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger."

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."

And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another: "Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is to come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us."

And they came with haste, and found Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

 

May God's Blessings
of Faith, Hope and Love be yours,
as we Celebrate the Birth of Christ,
Now and in the coming New Year
 

 "My spirit rejoices in God my Savior"
                                            Luke 1:47
 

Ed Williams