Two stories about judgment
 
Story #1: I get to gloat a bit. Some of the hardest decisions we’ve had to make during this move is what to do with some of the things from Anne’s mom, who passed away 3 1/2 years ago. Obviously there are some things that Anne will always keep, but there are other items that we probably don’t have room for as we get ready to move into smaller quarters. We started downsizing in February as we got our house ready to sell. We had called one of those non-profits that will take your stuff to re-sell and were getting some things (mainly clothes and a few knick-knacks) ready when I came across a painting that Anne had put in the give-away pile. It was from Anne’s mother and, to be honest, it really didn’t do much for me. It was a basic pastoral scene with a cow, a field, some trees. The frame was nice, though, and my very limited art expertise told me that maybe we should hold onto this. I’ve only watched Antiques Roadshow on PBS a few times, but I thought, wouldn’t it be something if this was one of those items that turned out to be worth a lot of money? I got home last night from a meeting and Anne told me about an e-mail she received. Recently, we contracted with a person who will sell your stuff on eBay, Craigslist, etc. and this person contacted an art expert she knows and apparently this painting is worth a fair amount of money. Not an obscene amount, but one could take a very nice trip with the proceeds from its sale. I must confess that I gloated a bit. There is no doubt that this story will turn up as a sermon illustration one day. What we think isn’t worth anything turns out to be worth quite a bit, after all. Story #2: Well... I was returning home from walking my dog (pictured above) this morning and as I was going to the door, another dog walker said something to me. I had my iPod on so I took that out so I could hear what he said. I still couldn’t understand him, but finally figured out that he was saying, “Friendly?” as in, “Is your dog friendly enough for my dog to approach?” My first reaction was, I really don’t have time for a little doggy play dayte, but I said, “Yes.” Quickly, however, I remembered a handful of times when Stella (my dog) wasn’t exactly a fan of meeting another dog so my response was actually, “Yes...well...” The other dogwalker quickly turned away and said, “Enough said! Enough said! You told me everything by saying, ‘Well.’” And he walked away. I was a little put off by this. How dare he judge my dog like that! Then I realized that maybe he was wondering if I was the one who was friendly! To which I’d probably answer, “Yes...well...” Our state legislature is considering expanding video poker in our state. Here’s why that’s a bad idea. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/http://www.ilcaaap.org/home/index.phpshapeimage_1_link_0shapeimage_1_link_1
Wednesday, May 20, 2009