"It’s important to always look where you’re headed rather than where you were!" ~ from the Lion King Movie

Hello, again, and we open up today's edition and discover it's Friday, June 19, 2020. We've had the same behind our house neighbor for twenty plus years. She is a bonified animal lover and cats in particular. She has nearly a dozen and takes care of them like they are her children because, in essence, they are. She has one large fluffy cat who she took in as a stray. His name is Shadow and when she got him a couple of years ago he was as wild as they come. He had all kinds of problems that required veterinarian care over a long period of time. He believes himself to be Mufasa, king of our neighborhood. He roams all around or more to the point, he prances all around. He loves to torment Mr. Bentley. Mr. Bentley lays by the sliding glass door and Shadow likes to parade forth and back and watch Mr. Bentley have conniptions. I don't know how much territory he rules over but I see him at various times in different parts of our subdivision. He expects cars to yield him the right of way. I was out with Mr. Bentley the other day and I saw Shadow down the street about a block and a half away. He was doing his regular marching around when he encountered a couple of mocking birds who obviously had missed his coronation. He decided to cross the street and they were making him as unwelcome as they could. They were taking turns diving and pecking at him. He acted like he was trying to ignore them. After all, he still eats birds. Who do they think they are? However, they were courageous and tenacious. They kept at it and he finally had to turn his proud walk into a trot and get out of Dodge. They obviously had a nest nearby and crown or no crown they saw him as a threat. Shadow the intimidator became Shadow the intimidated. I'm not sure Mr. Bently could tell exactly what was going on but he may have thought it was nothing less than well earned poetic justice.

Here are some excerpted thoughts from a blog I wrote on June 19, 2007. ~ It Doesn't Take Much! Wonder how life would go for us if we went about our daily activities with a desire to recognize, encourage, and reward people instead of our usual approach which dares anyone to cross us? As the old saying goes, our attitude really does impact our altitude. Let me say clearly this is not a repackaging of the “positive thinking psychobabble”. It’s essentially seeing people for who they really are,  made in the image of God”. And, more or less living out the tried and true golden rule where we give out what we would really like to receive. If you really think about it you will conclude that you can either help or hurt, and it doesn't take much. I know a few years ago the rage was all about the mantra of ‘What would Jesus do?’. While I was pleased people paused to consider this question, I don’t think too many were really puzzled in trying to decide what He would do. The issue then, and now, is what He would have us to do and that’s the challenge we face. This is particularly true as it relates to our view and treatment of others! Here’s a good suggestion. Let’s all agree as we go about our busy lives to do our best to try to make it a good day for at least one person. How about TODAY? Hey, this is pretty good stuff. I might want to write a blog about it, someday. ~

I now come to the end of this week's visits and I do hope you and yours are well. We did have one individual who attended one of our recent public services in our local meeting place to be confirmed as having the Covid-19 Virus. That was news. The confirmed cases are continuing to grow in our county and for most of our state. I think there are four or five counties with no cases. One wonders how that could happen, but, we haven't had any thoughts of moving to one of those. Joking only. The question remains as to what posture we older folks should take. Regardless of how you look at the numbers, those 65 and older have been the most impacted in terms of terminal outcomes, at a near 80% clip. Oh well, we all have to make the best decisions we can using the best information we can get along with God's input and His provision. With that, I bid you a wonderful farewell for now, and may we all find ourselves counting our blessings each day. Amen. .....More later.