Pastor Buddy’s Blog

Journal,

This has pretty much been a mixed day for the Martin plantation. We’ve had both sorrows along with joy. Let me share the sorrow part first.

Today Snickers Duke of Martinville went to doggie heaven. Snickers our pug actually belonged to? Betty.? General Claudius Josephus is my dog. We call him CJ for short. CJ is our? Great Dane.

Anyway Snickers has always been fiercely independent. Once he gets out of the house or our backyard, there is no coaxing him back.? This was a third time? Snickers made his escape.? To make the? story short this time it was disastrous. In his exploring the area two large dogs overtook him. Betty later found him near our church sign. We brought him home and I held him in my lap and talked with him. Afterwards I placed him in his doggie bed and prayed over him. When I? went to check on him a bit later, Snickers had passed.

I am so happy that Andre and Judy were with us. We buried Snickers on a beauiful knoll between two pine trees just outside our fenced in back yard. But I feel so sorry for CJ. You can tell that he misses his little buddie. The odd side of this is that Snickers use to worry the warts off of CJ. But that is what buddies do.

May I add a juncture to this? Could there be a lesson involved for any of God’s people who get so independent that they refused to be harnessed? Just something to think about.

On the joyful side — In spite of our sorrow this has been truly a wonderful day by way of the family getting together.? Our plans were for the family to meet at Nathan’s this afternoon and enjoy? opening gifts. Shana and Tim were in Mamou to meet the Tim’s family. Andre and Judy came by the house. We had such a wonderful time visiting. Had a late? lunch. Betty and I shared gifts. Then we all sallied over to Nathan’s.

What a wonderful Christmas. I was given a special place to sit. The grandchildren were instructed not to hug grandpa. So there I sat with my facemask on simply absorbing all the love that was flowing through the room. To watch the eyes of children light up over their gifts is such a treat. (Course I know that all of you also had a wonderful time with your families.)

Finally we made it home. It’s been tiring. But you know, I really do feel good. I feel good all the time. The only real problem I have is with weakness. And the real big plus in all this is that I have lost several pounds. Of course I made a decision when all this came down. I decided that I was going to lose all my ugly fat and just keep my good looking fat.? ?

I was asked to tell about? ‘The cat that wasn’t happy.’ I think that right now is not a good time for that.? We are still mourning the loss of Snickers. I’ll get to the cat tale before long.

Well, Snickers was such a sweet little fellow with those big brown eyes. Every evening he would jump up in my lap or Betty’s lap and just nuzzle. We will miss that part. But to be totally upfront, Betty and I had already talked about finding Snickers a good home. As much as we loved him, Snickers could be? pretty difficult to deal with at times.

Well, from now on only one dog at a time.? General Claudius Josephus will fill that bill very well. He is truly a treasure. Course CJ is beginning to show his age. He is graying around his whiskers. Wish I had time to tell you more about CJ. All I can say is that he picked me to be his master. And that is a story of its own.

But on a subnote — I finally had to stop taking CJ to the office with me simply because of his size. Folks did not realize how gentle he really was and you could tell that a few felt uncomfortable with CJ snoozing nearby while I counseled with them. Shucks — CJ could care less. He just loves to sleep and eat.

Ok. That’s it for now. Talk with you later.

Love all of you.

Buddy