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short stories
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 The herd seeking shelter for the heat or cold or wind. We can find shelter and safety and provision in God. He supplies all our needs if we are willing to do things his way. The Death of Pam Dad wouldn’t even talk about the cow. It was apparent she was ill. Pam was a skeleton covered by a thick hide. Her bones creaked when she hobbled along. Pam suffered from diarrhea badly. My parents were dirt poor, so there was no cash to call in the Vet. For some reason, Pam gave a large quantity of milk each day, and Dad was reluctant to get rid of her. We needed her milk input every day. I milked Pam and thought how cruel it was to let her suffer. But Dad did nothing and said nothing. Dad was a rugged little man with the courage of a lion. Yet he was a softie when it came to putting an unwanted or suffering animal down. One day he announced at breakfast that he had to go into the nearest town and do business. He would be away all day. As we ate our breakfast and thought about what we would do while Dad was away, I thought, “What would Dad say if I put Pam down? I considered the situation and decided to dare my father’s wrath and put the animal out of its misery. Dad was well away when I took my rifle and went to find Pam. I found her near the road out to the main gate of our property. Not an ideal place to dig a grave and bury a large animal. She was trying to feed but was unable to. I lined Pam up in the site of the gun and fired. The animal dropped. My aim was absolutely correct. I now faced the task of burying the animal. Unable to drag the body away or dispose of it another way, I took up the spade and began to dig. I spent most of the day excavating a hole deep and wide enough to push Pam in. When Dad arrived home in time for milking, Pam was nowhere to be found. She had disappeared. But a freshly dug mound of dirt had arisen beside the road. I feared the worst. What would Dad say and do? He had to drive past the pile of freshly dug earth. Milking began; Dad was silent; the milking finished, but still no comment from Dad. He related his day’s adventures but made no mention of Pam. Dad passed away without Pam’s name ever crossing his lips again. I entertained the thought that Dad invented a business trip to the town, hoping that I would dispatch the animal. I did what he wished I would do. Maybe there was no reason to bring up Pam’s demise. Anyway, he never spoke of her again. Farm animals are used but hopefully not abused.  A herd gathered around a water trough. We humans need water to satisfy our spiritual needs. The bible will help us find that need. TRUTH AND LIES Humans are used up and abused. It is not God who harms us. We have turned on ourselves. We can euthanize ourselves and call it mercy, just as Bruce felt over Pam. God is a total softie. God doesn’t kill us off if we do not behave or perform or return his affection. He loves us regardless, waiting for the day when we come to our senses and choose through Jesus Christ to become his children and build a relationship with him. Evolution wants us to believe that we have evolved from animals. We are looked upon as part of the animal family. Many of us think when we die, we will go into the ground, like an animal, and that will be the last of us. With this attitude, it is easy to accept the idea of euthanasia. When we can no longer be valuable and ill health overtakes us as Pam, the cow, it is time to get rid of us. But we are not animals; we are humans, the creative genius of God. Because we are the perfect creation, God loves us totally. Others believe and hope that there is an afterlife, and it will treat us well, so we strive to live as good a life as we can in the hope of buying eternity. Some people refuse to think about the future life and eat, drink and be merry because it is the only life they can contemplate. If we read the Bible, we would find a very different story. We are an outright creation. We were formed from the earth, but God breathed his life into us. We are created in the image of God. There is no semblance of the animal kingdom in us. We are spirit, soul and body. Animals are only soul and body.  An inquisitive cow. Be inquisitive and read the bible especially the New Testament, with an open mind. You probably will find God. THE TRUTH IS: If we read the Bible, we would find that every human on earth was planned before the universe was created. We may have been the last specie created, but we were in God’s heart before the worlds were made. We are not random add-ons. It is written in Psalms 139: 13 – 18; “You (God) made all the delicate, inner parts of my body, and knit them together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! It is amazing to think about. Your creativity is marvellous – and how well I know it. You were there when I was being formed in utter seclusion! You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe. Every day was recorded in your book! How precious it is, Lord, to realize that you are thinking about me constantly.”  WE ARE UNIQUE HUMAN BEINGS One of a kind, so to speak. God does not use and abuse us; he made us in his likeness and equal with him and to fellowship with him one to one. What does the Bible say? Ephesians 1: “Long ago, even before he (God) made the world, God chose us to be his very own, through what Christ would do for us; he (God) decided then to make us holy in his eyes, without a single fault – we who stand before him covered in his love. His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his family by sending Jesus Christ to die for us. He did this because he wanted to.”  The old disused dairy that I worked in as a teenager FACE TO FACE
Our relationship with God had been established before the world began through the death of Jesus. That relationship becomes a reality when we accept Jesus and believe that he saves us from death and for eternity. Establishing a relationship with God is the most beautiful thing we will ever do.
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 GUEST WRITER:
JEANINE ALVES RESCUED Fortunately, my family likes Banana Bread! Bananas are a favorite fruit in our house, but when there's an extended period of steamy days and nights it's pretty hard to keep a banana overnight, let alone for a few days, without its becoming black and squishy. I'm glad I learned that when this happens, you can throw them into the freezer 'as is' and retrieve and thaw them later. It always amazes me that something so visually unappealing and sometimes (depending on the extent of degeneration) almost physically revolting, can be turned into something we find so yummy and enjoy so much. At the sight of yet another bar of Banana Bread in the kitchen today I was reminded of how the bananas were like relationships in a way. A relationship goes through stages - first "green", perhaps a bit hard and not as enjoyable as it may become later if left to develop; then maturing to a sweet ripeness as time and warmth have an effect. Sadly some relationships then "go bad", due to being left aside for a long time, or because of a period of extreme conditions. I am encouraged to think this may be a retrievable situation, as the "rotten bananas" are attended to and treated to make something good and satisfying. I also like to think that this may apply not only to our relationships with each other, but also with regard to our relationship with God; that we never need feel we have let things slip too far, that we can be taken out of the freezer and remade into something useful and appreciated. Even now I have a backlog of bananas taking up space in my freezer, and I know I must deal with them soon. I hope I am not as neglectful of the relationships in my life and that after periods of "heat" we can work things out to produce something good. And I am thankful that God, our Heavenly Father, has been able to rescue me from my rotten state, through Jesus Christ our Saviour. Praise Him! Our Favorite Banana Bread Recipe Banana Bread Recipe: 3 small to medium bananas, mashed (good cup or so) 1½ cups self-raising flour ½ teaspoon salt 60g shortening (butter or cooking margarine) 1 large egg 1 level tablespoons golden syrup 3 tablespoons milk A greased and lined loaf tin for baking Beat the butter or margarine; add the sugar and cream them together. Add the bananas with the egg and syrup and mix well. Lastly add the sifted flour and salt alternately with the milk. Bake on the centre shelf of a moderate oven (around 180 degrees C) for up to an hour, depending on your oven. (P.S. To save time and hassle, I have found it is possible to throw all the ingredients into the bowl of the electric mixer and beat until well combined - seems to taste the same!) |
Author: "You can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page" - Jodi Picoult
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