[Hat tip to my good friend Hiro for sending me the link to the Beliefnet article that inspired me to write this post.] Dr. Steve McSwain looks like a nice guy with a friendly smile, if the picture I procured from his website serves as any indication. Professor of communications at the University of Kentucky, Dr. McSwain is promoted as a former Baptist preacher, a spiritual teacher and motivational speaker with "respect [for] all spiritual traditions" at his website. That courtesy has apparently not been extended to certain members of his own religion, in particular Ken Hamm and those Christians who advocate Young Earth Creationism, often referred to as YEC. To be fair, I'm not particularly keen on Mr. Hamm's apparent position that YEC beliefs are mandatory to be considered a "true" Christian. But Dr. McSwain doesn't even pretend to hide his scorn and disdain for these creationists. He writes of "religious quackery" taught in Sunday School by "misinformed Christian zealots" blithering about like "a bunch of intellectually-bankrupt nitwits." Dr. McSwain is so embarrassed by the very idea of creationism that he wrote, That there are still Christians promoting Creationism is actually more unbelievable than the illogical nonsense in Creationism they wish everyone would just believe. I am reminded of the famous plea from Rodney King who asked, "Why can't we all just get along?" In the spirit of full disclosure, I should mention before going any further that I believe a form of supernatural intelligence called God is directly responsible for my … [Read more...]
Shiloh’s Accident
Our dog Shiloh might not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but we love him dearly. He's the goofball of our pack, a giant galoot of a German Shepherd with a staggering number of genetic defects due to unscrupulous overbreeding. He looks ferocious and his bark is intimidating, but the image he projects is in stark contrast with his sweet and gentle personality. Shiloh suffers from several physical maladies, but never acts like he’s in pain. He’s one tough cookie. We keep him as healthy as possible. We watch his weight and give him regular exercise in walks. True, not everybody would put up with his quirks and eccentric behavior. Shiloh’s powerful bark rattles the windows of our house daily at the crack of dawn, alerting us of the onset of morning traffic… especially motorcycles and school buses. He barks at cars, trucks, joggers, clouds, and butterflies — anything on the move, because he always wants to go along for the ride. This is the other story just added to the revised Always a Next One. Shiloh’s accident My heart skipped a beat when I noticed the open fence gate. The exterminator had visited earlier in the day and apparently he hadn’t closed the gate well enough when he left our backyard. I rushed back inside the house to do a quick head count. I checked every corner of every room with a rising dread in the pit of my stomach. Three of our dogs were missing. The timing of their escape couldn’t have been worse. It was approaching the late afternoon rush hour, and we live near a busy road. I shouted for my son Matt, who happened to be home on a … [Read more...]
Runaway Rusty
We decided to add just a couple of stories to my book Always a Next One. We replaced the preview chapter of Coastal Empire at the back of the book with a little more content while we were adding pictures of the dogs to the e-book version. These two additional stories are dedicated to Jennie Attaway, for inspiring me to write them. This one is called Runaway Rusty... Usually, we humans decide to adopt a dog. But sometimes, it works the other way around. Rusty had experienced a rough life before he came to our house for rescue and rehabilitation. After spending several weeks camped at my wife’s feet, he picked up on what life was like for the rest of our pack. When it came time for his adoption, Rusty had obviously developed his own ideas about where his perfect forever home might be. “Rusty was returned again,” Lisa said. “What did he do this time?” I asked, not terribly surprised. “The woman who adopted him complained that he kept running away,” Lisa said. “She said every time she walked out the front door, he’d make a run for it. She’s tired of chasing him all over her neighborhood.” “Rusty?” I asked incredulously. That didn’t sound like him at all. “When will you bring him back here?” “When I go to the shelter on Thursday.” And so it was settled. It wasn’t Rusty’s first time through our revolving door. The older but beautiful black-and-tan collie had fostered with us more than once since his original owner surrendered him back the shelter. The woman who had adopted Rusty from the shelter as a puppy returned him after six years with … [Read more...]
