Judy Stanley

“Just meowing is praying,” so meowed one June afternoon the truly Independent in God creature called Peace Girl by her human.

Here’s Peace in her own domestic, short-hair North Carolinian dialect: “Now you all needs to know that I am God’s and God’s first and last, an alpha and omega cat. God made me and my purrrfect independence, purrfectly displayed each and every day, is from Him. God loves all creatures and cats especially because most of our day is spent in prayer and meditation. We pray as we rise up from deep slumbers in the first watch of the day. We meditate over the water bowls, and as we tackle the first catch of the day. We pray as we stroll, and we pray as we play with one another in the garden. We love solitude and we love the community of other four-legged or two-legged creatures and we especially delight in winged things to catch for fun, for food and for sport.

God is Good, God is great,
We thank Him now for our plate
Great is God, and life a test
To think ourselves much like the rest
As God’s great will makes all things blest.

Blessings,
First Samuel
P.S. Peace’s Final Words Independent for life!

Continue reading Independence in God

Dear Friends,

I am finally getting to feel “settled in” to my new house, and it feels good. Two meals a day, many spots to catnap! Outside in the yard, it’s a veritable zoo! But I kinda like it that way, with birds and squirrels, and chipmunks, deer, and skunks and camouflaged people (in greens or oranges with talking sticks)!

While Judy writes about people conflicts and church conflicts, I have a piece on cat fights!

I have bided my time, and now my elder cat (Peace Girl) is my favorite target. I dive bomb her while she naps, wrestling her until she cries “Stop it!” I eat her portion and drink her cream. She gives me “the dickens” and then we purr and make up!

We are happier than humans; humans should take note of the ways of the Cat!

Peace,
First Samuel

The most unexpected things happen when I am quite sure I have my life nice, quiet and orderly.

Just when I think, I can resume my orderly and leisurely Doctor Watson routines, something comes along to “upset the apple basket” of our life together (Rev. Judy Stanley and myself who’ve shared our ministry for some six years) and Easter weekend was no exception.

Coming home from a busy day of Holy Week activities, we found a stray kitten had deliberately and purposefully invaded our tranquil home. This pint-size, stripped miniature grey-tiger kitty, was holding the other two cats, Peace and Samuel, at bay and making sounds that said, “I am hungry, and homeless, I am weak and weary and wet. Do you not have room for me in your shed, perhaps?”

Well, this was between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, and I had the words of our Savior as he spoke those haunting words to his disciples like nails pounding into His Cross, those words pounded in my head “…for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me….” (Mt. 25: 35).

Well, I did not warm up to

Continue reading Rev. J. Paws

It was a hot July day, and you were lying on your side

As if in a dream

Dog of the fields, Dog of the open roads, and the overgrown paths

Dog of the running creek rapids

Now rigor mortis has set in

And you are guarding your faithful landmark

Shelter and feeder

The green box dumpster.

Dog of the hunt

Rest in peace, and run

through heaven till you tire,

eat and drink all you want

and run free and run safe

and run into the arms of a

loving friend.

Ever His,
Rev. Dr. Watson

As I gaze into the fireplace, and make my Christmas list for 2006, I am flooded with warm memories of Christmas. My thoughts center on that first Christmas in ministry, “lo these many years ago.” Christmas in the Great Smokies as the Associate Dog/Pastoral Friend of Bryson City Presbyterian Church.

That year was a cold one, the squirrels had buried all the nuts and acorns and whatevers in anticipation of a long winter’s nap. By December 23rd, we experienced several deep snows, and I couldn’t even find any of my buried doggy bones.

On Christmas Eve, I assisted Rev. Judy in several services and just as I was settling into my long winter’s nap, the phone rang. Judy answered, and discovered that a kerosene fire, destroyed the trailer home of a new family with seven children and seven pets (two dogs, three cats, a turtle and a hamster) although the family was safe!

Thank the good Lord, all animals are present and accounted for, but they needed shelter and provisions. So off we went to find them rooms at the local Inn and to provide food and gifts. This took us into Christmas Day, and after a brief rest, we went walking through

Continue reading Christmas in Bryson City, North Carolina

I myself know that God made me and that I am dependent on two-legged and four-legged creatures for food and for comfort. I know that my time is limited and naps are important for me to be the best God calls me to be: A friend to all, and confidant/companion to human beings, i.e., “man’s best friend.”

Too bad that humans have forgotten the power of naps (i.e., power naps) and of long walks in God’s country side, and lots and lots of petting and playing.

God made me for His own pleasure, and it’s His pleasure that I enjoy Him and all of His creation!

God is Good
So we Thank Him
As we should,
As we wake
And we play
Thank you God
For Everyday!

Ever His,
Rev. Dr. Watson