Saying Goodbye

"He is certainly of an age to die." The sadness of the old; their banishment...I too made use of this cliche' and that when I was referring to my mother...If I met a woman of fifty overcome with sadness because she had just lost her mother, I thought her neurotic; we are all mortal; at eighty you are old enough to be one of the dead... But it is not true...the knowledge that because of her age my mother's life must soon come to an end did not lessen the horrible surprise. -philosopher Simone de Beauvoir, A Very Easy Death.


A gentle breeze was blowing over the newly planted grass. The sound of digging and backhoes reverberated nearby. From some distance away came the lilting sound of a bugle playing taps , so familiar now....I stood there, looking down at the headstone for the first time: "Douglas P. Gunn, Lt, USN...Lucile E. Gunn....We Love You Mom and Dad"

Last week I visited my parent's grave for the first time since my mom's burial, six months ago this coming Friday. The are buried together, in one site, in the Riverside National Cemetary, one of several cemetaries set aside for military veterans and their spouses. The tears came as I stared at it, unbelieving...my mom and dad are really, finally gone.

I thought of the quote above that I had read once in a book about dealing with aging parents. I continue to grieve, to miss them, even though they are in surroundings of joy that I cannot begin to know. I cannot talk to them,cannot hug them, cannot share the joys of watching my children grow up. It is unbelievably painful.

Last Wednesday was my mother's birthday. She would have been 77. That night, I relived saying goodbye to her for the final time. I had gone out to be with her when I got a call that she might not last another 48 hours. But she rallied, perhaps because I was there. After a week, the doctor said she might live another 2 weeks. My own family was missing me and I knew I had to go. But how do you walk away from your mother? How do you say goodbye to the hands that bandaged your cuts, took your temperature, held your hand during painful shots, fixed your meals, helped you with all those spelling words....prayed for you every day... How do you walk away?

God's word tells us that Jesus knows all of our pain, temptation, etc. He was, after all, fully human as well as divine. And he even knew my pain, this pain...of saying goodbye to his mother. As he hung on the cross, what must it have felt like to see Mary, his mother, sobbing as she watched him die? John records in Chpt 19:27 that Jesus asked him to take care of her. As he endured his own agony, he loved her...and said goodbye.

When I hugged my mom for the last time, crying like a baby, she looked up at me, tired, gray hair disheveled...and smiled. "It's ok honey..."

"I know mom....I'll see you in heaven!"

"Yes" she nodded slowly, still smiling. "I know you will"

"I love you Mom"

"I love you too...."

A week later, she kept her promise and entered heaven.

And one day, sooner or later,I hope to keep mine...and I'll never have to say goodbye.

Evolution Again

This is pretty interesting....


Discovery Institute News1511 3rd Ave Suite 808 - Seattle, WA 98101 - (206) 292-0401 x107
Over 500 Scientists Proclaim Their Doubts About Darwin’s Theory

By: StaffDiscovery Institute February 20, 2006

The Scientific Dissent From Darwinism list is now located at a new webpage, www.dissentfromdarwin.org.

Over 500 doctoral scientists have now signed a statement publicly expressing their skepticism about the contemporary theory of Darwinian evolution.The statement reads: “We are skeptical of claims for the ability of random mutation and natural selection to account for the complexity of life. Careful examination of the evidence for Darwinian theory should be encouraged.” The list of 514 signatories includes member scientists from the prestigious US and Russian National Academy of Sciences. Signers include 154 biologists, the largest single scientific discipline represented on the list, as well as 76 chemists and 63 physicists. Signers hold doctorates in biological sciences, physics, chemistry, mathematics, medicine, computer science, and related disciplines. Many are professors or researchers at major universities and research institutions such as MIT, The Smithsonian, Cambridge University, UCLA, UC Berkeley, Princeton, the University of Pennsylvania, the Ohio State University, the University of Georgia, and the University of Washington.Discovery Institute first published its Scientific Dissent From Darwinism list in 2001 to challenge false statements about Darwinian evolution made in promoting PBS’s “Evolution” series. At the time it was claimed that “virtually every scientist in the world believes the theory to be true.”“Darwinists continue to claim that no serious scientists doubt the theory and yet here are 500 scientists who are willing to make public their skepticism about the theory,” said Dr. John G. West, associate director of Discovery Institute’s Center for Science & Culture. “Darwinist efforts to use the courts, the media and academic tenure committees to suppress dissent and stifle discussion are in fact fueling even more dissent and inspiring more scientists to ask to be added to the list.”According to West, it was the fast growing number of scientific dissenters which encouraged the Institute to launch a website -- www.dissentfromdarwin.org -- to give the list a permanent home. The website is the Institute’s response to the demand for information and access to the list both by the public, and by scientists who want to add their name to list. “Darwin’s theory of evolution is the great white elephant of contemporary thought,” said Dr. David Berlinski, one of the original signers, a mathematician and philosopher of science with Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture (CSC). “It is large, almost completely useless, and the object of superstitious awe.”Other prominent signatories include U.S. National Academy of Sciences member Philip Skell; American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow Lyle Jensen; evolutionary biologist and textbook author Stanley Salthe; Smithsonian Institution evolutionary biologist and a researcher at the National Institutes of Health’s National Center for Biotechnology Information Richard von Sternberg; Editor of Rivista di Biologia / Biology Forum --the oldest still published biology journal in the world-- Giuseppe Sermonti; and Russian Academy of Natural Sciences embryologist Lev Beloussov.
Discovery Institute is a non-profit, non-partisan, public policy think tank headquartered in Seattle and dealing with national and international affairs. For more information, browse Discovery's Web site at: http://www.discovery.org.

Weasels Among Us

My wife and I were hiking one summer day in Rocky Mountain National Park when we first saw one.

"Ya know," I commented as we walked, "I have seen just about every animal in this park at one time or another but I have never seen a weasel. Of course, they're nocturnal...." As I finished my sentence, and I kid you not, a weasel ran across the trail, over my boots, and bounded into the brush. We stood there, incredulous...then burst out laughing (If that is not an example of God's sense of humour, I don't know what is!)

It's been about 10 years since that happened, and few weeks ago I saw one again. My son and I were exploring on of the local canyons with our dog. Suddenly, I saw movement a few yards away and the little animal bounded across a clearing and under a log. I recognized it immediately, but it was different from the one I saw those years ago. This one, except for black tip of its tail, was snowy white.

Weasels, like other small mammals of the north, change the color of their fur with the seasons. (Well, they don't do it, it just happens...) In summer, they are brown and in winter they are white. In fact, if he hadn't moved I would never have seen him. Which brings me to my point.....

Too many Christians change their colors to blend in with their surroundings. They don't want to stand out, be different. They just want to fit in, to protect themselves. Like the weasel, their primary interest is to survive. When they stand up for their faith or protest an injustice,they get shot at. They get hurt. Not fun. If they don't move, they will be ok.

But that's not real Christianity. Jesus and the disciples were all killed or imprisoned because they stood up against the lies and evil of their time. Whether it is speaking out against slavery, racism, abortion, relativism or false religions, followers of Jesus have always been persecuted and hunted-and he promised we would.

So if you are a believer, don't be a weasel. They actually are sneaky,mean little creatures, hence the negative connotation their name.

Move.

Don't just blend in and play it safe.

Make a difference....

Be a Grizzly-hard to ignore.