Posted in dogs

It’s a bird…it’s a plane…it’s the moon

My wife and were sitting out back admiring the half moon hanging out in the southern sky. The evening was just a few degrees cooler and a bit less humid, so it was a beautiful evening on the patio.

We weren’t alone. The Great Dane was with us, sitting on the stone pavers, looking up at the moon. She did not simply look up and then head off to sniff something, but saw there and gazed up for a few minutes.

I never thought dogs saw the world two-dimensionally. She is usually focused on what’s in front of her, or at least what’s in front of her nose. But she notices birds sitting up on utility poles and wires. She hears and watches single engine planes pass overhead. She scans the pine trees at dawn, hoping to catch a glimpse of the owl hooting overhead.

l’m fascinated by what our dogs notice as we walk through the neighborhood or a nearby park. I don’t think her eyesight is all that great, but she never misses a motionless bunny by the side of the road, a tiny lizard stuck to the side of the house, or a hawk gliding just overhead.

Posted in children, Ministry, teaching

Can I have your attention?

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Photo by Loren Joseph on Unsplash

Post-Easter Sunday excitement, wiggles and sugar-hangovers made the Good News Club a little more challenging last week. After a few songs and teaching about the resurrection via the account of the two disciples who met the risen Christ on the road to Emmaus, it was craft and review time. The room divided up by grade to work on a few peel-and-stick crafts and see who could remember a few things from the story that day. Conversation and laughter filled the room, but everything remained under control — except for a few boys in the second grade group. The adult working with that group could have used a few dogs from the herding group to help corral those nine children. I was done teaching for the day so I tapped the four boys on the shoulder and said, “You guys come with me.”

Continue reading “Can I have your attention?”